Background: Many hormones are involved in the regulation of reproduction. Leptin hormone which is mainly secreted by adipose tissue plays an important role in energy homeostasis and reproduction. It seems that leptin is an important linkage between body metabolism and reproductive system. Moreover, it has been shown that leptin and leptin receptor express in reproductive organs of some species....

The decline in pulsatile LH secretion and pituitary responsiveness to GnRH as pregnancy advances may be due to non-steroidal factors secreted by the ovine corpus luteum of pregnancy. Corpora lutea from ten ewes on days 70-80 of gestation were homogenized, charcoal-treated and, together with charcoal-treated follicular fluid from superovulated women, were subjected to inhibin immunoaffinity chro...

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is interconnected with developmental programming of lifelong pathophysiology. IUGR is seen in human multifetal pregnancies, with stepwise rises in fetal numbers interfering with placental nutrient delivery. It remains unknown whether fetal blood analyses would reflect fetal nutrition, liver, and excretory function in the last trimester of human or ovine IU...

To determine the effect of ovine and human placental IgG on human Natural Killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity in vitro placental IgG was eluted at acidic pH and purified by ion exchange and subsequently by affinity chromatography on protein G and protein A sepharose columns. These antibodies were analysed for presense of IgG by immuno-electrophoresis and relative purity determined by sodium dodecyl s...

The endogenous retroviruses are inherited elements transmitted trough the germline of most animal species and their biological role is still controversial. Ovine Pulmonary Carcinoma (OPC) represents a good model for studying the interactions of endogenous retroviruses with their exogenous counterparts. The type D exogenous retrovirus known as Jaagsiekte Sheep Retro-Virus (JSRV) is necessary and...

Genus and Species. Ovis aries. Locus. Ovine DNA segment OarTMR1 associated with ovine v-akt1 murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1 (AKT1) and ovine DNA segment OB2 associated with ovine bradykinin receptor B2 (BDKRB2). Source and Description of Primers. Primers for AKT1 (GenBank accession no. AF207873) were obtained from Scott Fahrenkrug, USDA-MARC, Clay Center, Nebraska, and were sent to Dan...

Natural killer (NK) cells represent an important component of the innate immune system. In ruminants there are few reports regarding presence or characterization of NK cells. Although absence of expression of major histocompatibility complex proteins on ovine trophoblast makes it potentially a target for NK cells, little is known about regulation of NK cells by products of pregnancy in sheep. O...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are small regulatory RNAs crucial for modulation of signaling pathways in multiple organs. While the link between miRNAs and heart disease has grown more readily apparent over the past three years, these data are primarily limited to small animal models or cell-based systems. Here, we performed a high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNAseq) analysis of left ventricle and o...

These experiments were performed to test the perfusion of ovine as a model for human ovaries by cryoprotectants in vivo at high temperature when the permeability of capillaries is high and when blood is insensibly replaced by the solution of cryoprotectants. By our hypothetical supposition, ovaries could be saturated by cryoprotectants before their surgical removal. The objective was to examine...

We describe the properties of three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to ovine GH, two of which have previously been shown to enhance, in vivo, the biological activity of bovine and ovine growth hormone. We have examined the effects of these MAbs on GH activity in two appropriate GH-responsive cell culture systems, investigating both acute signalling effects (Janus-activated kinase (Jak)-2 tyrosine ...