Reproduction Abstracts

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...

Oocytes of domestic mammals present high concentrations of lipids, and this is particularly evident in porcine oocytes that exhibit higher levels than other species, becoming more susceptible to oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. Considering that melatonin is an effective antioxidant for protecting macromolecules against oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS), the purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of melatonin supplementation during...

Porcine spermatogonia can develop to sperm in neonatal testicular tissue that were cryopreserved and grafted into nude mice. Live piglets were born from zygotes produced by intracytoplasmic sperm injection using these sperm (Kaneko et al. PLoS ONE, 2013). Utilization of fetal tissue will give us valuable chances for conservation of genetic resources and also for improvement of testicular xenografting. We aimed to examine whether porcine fetal testis can produ...

Introduction: ALF is a germ cell-specific counterpart of the large (α/β) subunit of general transcription factor TFIIA and has a vital role in the meiotic and post-meiotic development of male germ cells. We have found in vitro a variety of effects of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on different types of germ cells, including the induction of DNA strand breaks and apoptosis. We therefore examined its effect on the expression of genes such as AL...

Background: The impact of androgens on myometrial contraction has received less scrutiny, compared to progesterone and estrogens. We sought to i) examine the effect of dihydrotestosterone (DHT; a non-aromatizable androgen) on stretch-induced contraction of human myometrium and ii) gain mechanistic insights by studying changes in intracellular calcium [Ca2+] and phosphorylation of myosin light chain (MLC).Methods: Myometrial strips were recover...

Human pregnancy represents a unique immunological environment. However, very little is known about the role of uterine decidual macrophages (dMs) in early human pregnancy. The monocytic cell line (THP1) was activated and polarised to a pro-inflammatory M1 or immunosuppressive M2 M phenotype and the conditioned media was used to treat fetally-derived trophoblast cells. Treatment with M1 conditioned media was found to significantly reduce trophoblast motility in vitro, ...

The past few decades have seen marked improvements in life expectancy following childhood cancer due, in part, to advances in chemotherapy. While these drugs are effective in treating malignant disease, one of the main adverse outcomes can be infertility. This is of particular concern for prepubertal boys, for whom there are not yet any established methods of fertility preservation. The objective of this study was to gain a better understanding of the effects of the widely-use...

Introduction: During the establishment of pregnancy, extravillous trophoblast (EVT) must invade through the decidua to form a functional placenta. Impaired decidualization is associated with placental insufficiency, including preeclampsia. The mechanisms by which decidual cells interact with EVT remain largely unknown. We hypothesised that decidual–EVT interactions are critical for appropriate invasion.Methods: Primary human endometrial stromal cell...

For developmental competence of oocyte derived from small follicle (~3 mm in diameter SF), pre-IVM system was developed for in vitro culturing SF. The purpose of this study is to establish the optimal phase and concentration for exogenous addition of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP) on pre-IVM. To establish the appropriate phase for pre-IVM, we assessed nuclear status according to culture duration. The result of the nuclear stage assessment of th...