REASON FOR PERFORMING STUDY Diagnostic techniques for oviductal obstruction in the mare are limited and development of a more reliable and direct method to assess oviductal patency is needed. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the feasibility of hysteroscopic selective hydrotubation of the equine oviduct via videoendoscopy in standing mares. METHODS Using a catheter inserted under endoscopic guidance in...

The oviduct functions in the transportation of gametes to the site of fertilization (the ampulla) and is the site of early embryonic development. Alterations of this early developmental environment, such as the presence of sexually transmitted pathogens, may affect oviduct function leading to reduced fertilization rates and contribute to compromised embryonic development. In this study, sperm i...

To investigate the relationship between photostimulation, ovary and oviduct weights, and oviductal sperm-storage tubule (SST) development and functional capacity, 33-week-old turkey hens were placed in four groups of 15 hens each. Each group was inseminated three times in 30 min with 50 x 10(6) spermatozoa (a total of 150 x 10(6) spermatozoa) on the day of photostimulation, or on Days 7, 14, or...

Oviduct epithelial cells are important for the nourishment and survival of ovulated oocytes and early embryos, and they respond to the steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone. Endocrine-disrupting polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAH) are environmental toxins that act in part through the ligand-activated transcription factor arylhydrocarbon receptor (AhR; dioxin receptor), and exposur...

In mammals, only a few spermatozoa arrive at the fertilization site. During the last step in the journey to the egg, apart from their self-propulsion, spermatozoa may be assisted by oviduct movement and/or a guidance mechanism. The proportion of rabbit spermatozoa that arrive at the fertilization site was determined under in vivo conditions, in which either the ovulation products (secreting che...

Incubation of hen oviduct membranes with UDP-[14C]N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) leads to the formation of four endogenously labeled lipids. One of these lipids has not previously been characterized. Based on its chromatographic behavior on SG-81 paper and DEAE-cellulose, it is a monophosphate diester. The oviduct lipid is extremely sensitive to mild acid hydrolysis and, based on a comparison wit...

The female reproductive organs of Sarcophaga ruficornis F. (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) consists of paired ovaries, lateral oviducts, a common oviduct, three spermathecae and paired accessory glands. Each ovary is formed of about 45-53 polytrophic ovarioles. The epithelium of lateral oviduct is formed of syncytial cells overlaid by longitudinal and circular muscle fibers. The common oviduct has syn...

We successfully replaced the ovalbumin gene of a magnum region in chickens with a human plasminogen activator. We constructed pL-eGFP, pL-tPAGFP and pL-2.8OVtPAGFP vectors and cultured 293FT chicken embryo fibroblasts, chicken primordial germ cells, Hela C127 cells, and oviduct epithelial cells. All vectors were expressed in the transfected cells, except pL-2.8OVtPAGFP vector, which was only ex...

The Chinese brown frog (Rana dybowskii) is a special amphibian with one unique physiological phenomenon, which is that its oviduct expands prior to hibernation, instead of during the breeding period. In this study, we investigate the localization and expression level of PPARγ2, leptin and leptin receptor proteins in oviduct of Rana dybowskii during  breeding period and pre-hibernation. There we...

Cladribine is a purine nucleoside analog which initiates the apoptotic mechanism within cells. Moreover, the available data confirms that cladribine, with the participation of the p53 protein, as well as the proapoptotic proteins from the Bcl-2 family, also induces the activation of the intrinsic apoptosis pathway. However, while there has been a lot of research devoted to the effect of cladrib...