Reproduction Abstracts

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects over 5% of women of reproductive age. It is associated with an ovulatory infertility, menstrual disturbances as well as metabolic abnormalities including obesity and insulin resistance. PCOS has a strong genetic basis but studies of ovarian gene expression in PCOS are limited by the difficulty in obtaining tissue samples from women with and without PCOS. For that reason, most studies have been performed in granulosa–lutein (GL) cel...

This work was aimed at localizing and evaluating the expression of endogenous hypoxia markers in the porcine oviduct. Oviduct samples were obtained from reproductive tracts of sows (n=20) in the slaughterhouse. Upon visual inspection of the ovary the samples were allocated into late follicular (LF), early luteal (EL) and late luteal (LL) phases of the estrous cycle. Ampulla and isthmus sections were stained against the following specific primary antibodies: HIF2α, VEGF, F...

Introduction: Neonatal bisphenol A (BPA) exposures affect the developing reproductive tract of females, several distinct stages of oogenesis in the developing ovary. Notch signaling also plays an important role during oogenesis. We aimed to explain whether mRNA levels of Notch receptor and ligands are altered following BPA treatment during neonatal days in vitro.Materials and methods: Wistar rats were sacrificed and ovaries were isolated on post...

Introduction: Androgens: testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and a fungicide with antiandrogenic activity – vinclozolin (Vnz) served to study agonism and antagonism of the androgen receptor.Material and methods: Granulosa cells (GC) isolated from pig follicles were cultured for 48 h with testosterone (10−7 M), DHT (10−7 M), and Vnz (1.4×10−5 M) separately or in combinations. Cells were the...

The endometrium plays a central role in fertility and pregnancy. It undergoes changes in function and histological morphology over the oestrus cycle, driven by dynamic changes in progesterone and oestrogen. To understand the changes resulting from elevated oestrogen levels around oestrus, we profiled the transcriptome of the bovine uterus. Endometrial tissue was collected from synchronized beef heifers in six cohorts: i) 12 h after controlled intravaginal progesterone-releasin...

There is a lack of information about effects of the diet fat source on goat reproduction. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the fat source effect on in vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes. Eighteen goats were divided into three groups, on diets (40% concentrate/60% corn silage) with 4% (dry matter) of ether extract from different fat sources [soy oil (SG) and linseed (LG), Megalac® (MG)]. The does passed thru an adaptation period (15 days) and...

Introduction: The molecular mechanisms involved in regulating growth of small, gonadotrophin-independent follicles are poorly understood. We have previously shown that the canonical TGFβ signalling intermediate, Smad3 is highly expressed in granulosa cells (GCs) of single-layered follicles. Furthermore, a reduction in the overall expression of Smad3 is associated with the onset of multi-layering and increased granulosa cell proliferation, suggesting modulation of TGF&#946...

Introduction: Proper interactions between uterus and conceptuses are necessary for establishment of pregnancy and implantation. Key factors in these regulations are prostaglandins (PGs). Recently we presented an important role of prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) and its receptor (PTGFR) in porcine endometrium during early pregnancy. The aim of present study was to determine whether PGF2α can regulate the endometrial and embryonic expression of biglycan (BGN), metallopr...

In the field of ‘single cell analysis’, many classical strategies like immunofluorescence and electron microscopy are the fundamental choices. However, these methodologies are time-consuming and do not permit direct identification of specific molecular classes such as lipids. A novel mass spectrometry-based analytical approach has been applied to bovine oocytes and embryo. This new metabolomics-based application uses mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), efficient data pr...

The development of culture methods to produce oocytes from immature ovarian follicles in vitro would greatly contribute to livestock production and assisted human reproduction. However, successful in vitro culture to produce fully mature oocytes is very difficult in the case of large domestic animals. In the present study, we investigated the growth properties of in vitro-cultured porcine oocytes derived from early developmental stage follicles. Oocy...