A comparison of the amino acid sequences demonstrated that Siberian tiger gonadotropins are more homologous with those of porcine than any other commercially available preparation. The present study measured the efficacy of repeated ovarian stimulation with purified porcine gonadotropins on the follicular, hormonal, and immunogenic responses in Siberian tigers as well as on the ability of oocyt...

Encapsulated in vitro follicle growth (eIVFG) has great potential to provide an additional fertility preservation option for young women and girls with cancer or other reproductive health threatening diseases. Currently, follicles are cultured for a defined period of time and analyzed as a cohort. However, follicle growth is not synchronous, and culturing follicles for insufficient or excessive...

A major side-effect of controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). In-vitro maturation (IVM) of immature oocytes represents a potential alternative for the fertility treatment of these patients. Two patients at high risk of OHSS were primed with 10,000 IU HCG 36 h before oocyte retrieval. After...

Ovarian stimulation with exogenous FSH followed by FSH withdrawal or 'coasting' is an effective means of increasing the number of oocytes obtainable for the in vitro production of cattle embryos. However, the quality of the oocytes thus obtained varies considerably from one cow to the next. The aim of the present study was to gain a better understanding of the follicular conditions associated w...

BACKGROUND The LC Polscope facilitates visualization of the meiotic spindle in human oocyte. This study aimed to investigate meiotic spindle assembly in correlation to time elapsed after HCG administration, and to determine whether spindle imaging may serve to indicate the likelihood of fertilization and embryo cleavage. METHODS Metaphase II (MII) oocytes from 103 couples who were being treat...

Newt oocytes were dissected under liquid paraffin and known volumes of clean nucleoplasm and cytoplasm were obtained from oocytes in different stages of oogenesis. The samples were digested in redistilled nitric acid, diluted with deionized water, and their Na and K contents were measured by flame spectrophotometry. The results were expressed as micro-equivalents of Na and K per millilitre of n...

BACKGROUND To determine whether matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMP-1 and TIMP-2) in human follicular fluid, have any relationships with oocyte maturation in vivo and subsequent fertilization during in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. METHODS The follicular fluids were obtained from 150 female patients undergoing IVF/I...

BACKGROUND Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has been widely used to study the mechanisms of mammalian fertilization and to rescue male-factor infertility in humans and animals. However, very few systematic analyses have been conducted to define factors affecting the efficiency of ICSI. In this study, we undertook a large-scale series of ICSI experiments in mice to define the factors that...

The yellow snapper, Lutjanus argentiventris, is a commercial species along the Pacific coast, yet few studies have been carried out on its reproductive biology. Monthly samplings of the artisanal fishery off the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, were made from 1998 to 2008. Mean total length and weight of analyzed specimens were 32.6 cm (±0.13) and 567.3 g (±9.15), respectively. A total of 945 females ...

This study was performed to obtain information on the sex ratio, spawning period, and size at sexual maturity for fishery management of largehead hairtail Trichiurus japonicus in Korean waters. The overall ratio (female, F; male, M) 1:0.46 (n = 1274 females:589 males, 68.4% female) as fish increased length, proportion females increased. oocyte development pattern group-synchronous development, ...