Heat shock proteins are highly conserved proteins present in organisms ranging from bacteria to man. They are both dominant microbial immunogens and among the first proteins produced during mammalian embryo development. Since bacterial and human heat shock proteins share a high degree of amino acid sequence homology, it has been suggested that sensitization to bacterial heat shock proteins duri...

BACKGROUND The competence for embryonic development after IVF is low in the yak, therefore, we investigated the effects of supplementation of FSH, LH and the proteasome inhibitor MG132 in IVM media on yak oocyte competence for development after IVF. METHODS In Experiment 1, yak cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were in vitro matured (IVM) in TCM-199 with 20% fetal calf serum (FCS), 1 microg/mL ...

Since its first successful result in 1978, clinicians and researchers have been working on increasing the efficiency and safety of in vitro fertilization (IVF). As a result of advances in technology and understanding of human reproduction, IVF success rates have increased while high-order multiple pregnancy (triplets and more) rates have decreased. On the other, there is opportunity for further...

This study was undertaken to evaluate fertilization and early embryo development of in vitro matured (IVM) horse oocytes following transfer with homologous sperm to the oviduct of estrous ewes. A total of 1023 follicles (5.1 per ovary) were found after processing 202 slaughterhouse ovaries by aspiration and subsequent slicing. Most follicles (79%) were less than 20-mm in diameter. Six hundred s...

introduction cholinergic system is one of the important systems of mammalian cns. cholinergic neurons distributed in brain and spinal cord and contributed to principal functions like: consciousness, learning and memory, and motor control. in this study we investigated the differentiation potentiality of mouse embryonic stem cells toward cholinergic neurons. the aim of this study was to evaluate...

BACKGROUND PreImplantation Factor (PIF), a novel peptide secreted by viable embryos is essential for pregnancy: PIF modulates local immunity, promotes decidual pro-adhesion molecules and enhances trophoblast invasion. To determine the role of PIF in post-fertilization embryo development, we measured the peptide's concentration in the culture medium and tested endogenous PIF's potential trophic ...

Background: The efficiency of in vitro fertilization (IVF) is still low to be developed to blastocyst stage probably because of environmental conditions. It is likely that in vitro environment can not exactly mimic in vivo environment due to differences in media, metabolic content, atmospheric composition, temperature and pH. Therefore it may affect embryo quality by changing in embryo gene exp...

Natural cycle IVF produced the world first successful live birth, but slowly this treatment has been replaced by ovarian stimulated cycle IVF, because it has been believed ovarian stimulated cycle IVF will increase the number of available embryos for transfer. Therefore, it directly increases the chance of pregnancy from the treatment cycle. However, ovarian stimulation is always associated wit...

We report the successful piglet production from cryopreserved oocytes for the first time by using a simple, high capacity vitrification protocol for preservation and a defined system for in vitro embryo production. Immature cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) from prepubertal gilts were vitrified in microdrops and stored in liquid nitrogen. After warming, COCs were subjected to in vitro maturation ...

We previously reported that when midkine (MK), a heparin-binding growth differentiation factor was used in in vitro maturation (IVM) culture of bovine cumulus-enclosed oocytes (CEOs), their developmental competence to the blastocyst stage after in vitro fertilization (IVF) was enhanced and the effect of MK might be mediated by its action upon mural granulosa cells and cumulus cells that closely...