PSI-15 Embryo viability based upon energy

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 279-279
Author(s):  
Sydney L Hickerson ◽  
Cara W Wells ◽  
Noah P Jesko ◽  
Thomas L Perkins ◽  
Russell Killingsworth

Abstract The objective of this study was to analyze embryo energy release and whether or not it is indicative of survivability upon successful implantation. In both bovine and equine reproduction, fertility is a lowly heritable trait that has an exceedingly large financial impact on the ability to grow genetic lines. In order to increase pregnancy rates, producers must have access to accurate decision-making tools. Nineteen (n = 19) fertilized bovine embryos collected via flushing by licensed veterinarian, Dr. Russell Killingsworth, DVM, in Shamrock, TX, were assessed for energy release using amplification of video with a Nikon Camera and Iolight Microscope. Once embryos were flushed, they were filmed for a thirty-five (35) second observation period. Embryo dimensions were then taken using Image J software. Embryo release of energy was humanly perceptible and measurable by changes in their morphological dimensions. Measurements of significance were taken on the embryo intercellular mass area (ICM), total embryo area, and on the vertical, diagonal, and horizontal axis of the sub-zonal distance, or the distance between the zona pellucida and outer edge of the ICM. All measurements were taken in microns. Once embryos were successfully measured, all were transferred into recipients. Significant findings presented that embryos with a greater ICM, total embryo area, and sub-zonal vertical, diagonal, and horizontal distance established pregnancies more frequently than embryos with less momentous differences in distance (P < 0.05). This research has shown the relationship between embryo energy and pregnancy had a significance of determining pregnancy viability. This has therefore resulted in enhanced prediction of embryo transfer techniques based on embryo quality making pregnancy rates for producers more predictable and consistent.

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 225 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Sakagami ◽  
K. Akiyama ◽  
Y. Nakazawa

A precise evaluation of embryo quality is important to estimate the suitability of embryo transfer to recipient animal. Recently, an objective evaluation method was reported for bovine embryos, in which the oxygen consumption of embryos can be noninvasively determined by scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) (Shiku et al. 2001 Anal. Chem. 73, 3751–3758). Trimarchi et al. (2000 Biol. Reprod. 62, 1866–1874) suggested that the oxygen consumption reflects the cell number and mitochondrial activity of embryos. The objectives of this study were (1) to examine the oxygen consumption of in vivo-derived embryos by SECM, (2) to investigate the relationship between oxygen consumption and morphological estimation of embryos, and (3) to assess the correlation among the oxygen consumption, embryo viability, and pregnancy rates. Fifty-six embryos were collected from Japanese Black cattle, which were superovulated with a total dose of 20 mg porcine FSH (FSH-R; Kawasaki Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) followed by AI. The qualities of collected embryos at the stage of compacted morulae (CM), early blastocysts (EB), and blastocysts (BL) on Day 7 after AI were categorized as grade 1 and grade 2, according to the IETS manual (2002). The oxygen consumption rates of embryos were evaluated by SECM, as previously described by Abe et al. (2004 J. Mamm. Ova Res. 21). Embryos were frozen by programmable freezer in Dulbecco's PBS containing 1.5 M ethylene glycol, 0.1 M trehalose, and 20% calf serum. They were thawed by holding the straws in air for 8 s and then immersing them in a 30°C water bath for 15 s. After thawing, the embryos were examined for oxygen consumption. Twenty-eight embryos were then cultured in TCM-199 supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum and 0.1 mM β-mercaptoethanol for 24 h to assess the viability of embryos by re-expansion of blastocole. The remaining 28 embryos were transferred to recipients. The pregnancy rates were determined by rectal palpation on Day 70. Data were analyzed by ANOVA. The consumption rates of BL embryos on Day 7 were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of CM collected on the same day (0.84 vs. 1.29 × 10−14 mol s−1, respectively). A significant difference was also observed in consumption rates between grade 1 and 2 embryos at the BL stage (P < 0.05). After freezing–thawing, the average oxygen consumption rates of embryos were 0.52 × 10−14 mol s−1 for CM (n = 9), 0.67 × 10−14 mol s−1 for EB (n = 8), and 0.96 × 10−14 mol s−1 for BL (n = 11). The CM embryos with rates of < 0.5 × 10−14 mol s−1 and the EB and BL embryos with those < 0.6 × 10−14 mol s−1 did not show good morphological appearance after 24 h in culture. Pregnant animals were not obtained from embryos with rates <0.5 × 10−14 mol s−1 for CM (n = 5) and <0.7 × 10−14 mol s−1 for EB (n = 9). A high pregnancy rate (67%) was obtained from embryos with rates >1.0 × 10−14 mol s−1 for BL (n = 14). These results suggest that the measurement of oxygen consumption of embryos after embryo freezing and prior to embryo transfer may be useful for estimating embryo quality and suitability of embryo transfer.


2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 150 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Menges ◽  
H. Wei ◽  
D. Faber ◽  
D. Kraemer ◽  
C. Long

In vitro-produced (IVP) bovine embryos are known to produce a lower pregnancy rate when compared to conventional in vivo-produced embryos. The inability of the IVP embryo to hatch from the zona pellucida (ZP) after embryo transfer is thought to be one contributing factor. This study was designed to evaluate the utilization of a microscope objective-mounted laser to cut the ZP to assist hatching prior to transfer into the recipient. Preliminary data were acquired to evaluate the effect of laser treatment on in vitro development and blastomere survival following treatment. In six replicates, bovine oocytes were in vitro-matured, fertilized, and cultured as per standard laboratory procedures (TransOva Genetics, Sioux Center, IA, USA). On Days 5, 6, and 7 of in vitro culture, embryos were randomly divided into 3 treatment groups: no treatment (Control; n = 63), sham ZP cut (Sham; n = 68), or ZP cut (Cut; n = 70). Control embryos were immediately returned to the incubator following selection. Sham embryos were exposed to all conditions as Cut except laser-assisted hatching. The XYClone� system is a 300-mW, class 1 laser that emits a 3.5-µm beam at a wavelength of 1480 nm (Hamilton Thorne Biosciences, Beverly, MA, USA). This laser was used to produce the Cut group, using a pulse strength of 90% and pulse length of 600 µs. Embryos were returned to culture until Day 8 when rates of embryonic development and the percentage of live cells were determined. Chi-square was used to analyze all data. No significant effect of treatment or day of exposure was noted in either the total number of developing embryos or the ratio of live cells in each embryo. Mean live cells ranged from 89 to 96% across all treatments regardless of day of treatment. To investigate IVP embryo viability after laser-assisted hatching, commercially produced embryos (TransOva Genetics, Sioux Center, IA, USA) were randomly divided into two groups on the day of transfer, Control or Cut. The ZP of treated embryos were cut with slightly reduced laser exposure of 80% pulse strength and pulse length of 500 µs on Day 7, immediately prior to transfer into estrus-synchronized recipients. Pregnancy rates were determined via ultrasonagraphy at Day 30 (n = 337) and, due to the commercial nature of this project, only a subset of the Day 30 pregnant cows was checked at Day 60 (n = 289). The 30-day pregnancy rates were 49.2% and 54.1% for Control (n = 189) and Cut (n = 148) embryos, respectively, and were not statistically different (P > 0.05). However, at Day 60, the pregnancy rates for the Control (45.7%; n = 166) and Cut groups (57.7%; n = 123) were statistically different (P < 0.05). These results demonstrate that laser-assisted hatching using the XYClone system can improve 60-day pregnancy rates for in vitro-produced embryos.


2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (S 01) ◽  
pp. S39-S42 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kocher ◽  
G. Asmelash ◽  
V. Makki ◽  
S. Müller ◽  
S. Krekeler ◽  
...  

SummaryThe retrospective observational study surveys the relationship between development of inhibitors in the treatment of haemophilia patients and risk factors such as changing FVIII products. A total of 119 patients were included in this study, 198 changes of FVIII products were evaluated. Results: During the observation period of 12 months none of the patients developed an inhibitor, which was temporally associated with a change of FVIII products. A frequent change of FVIII products didn’t lead to an increase in inhibitor risk. The change between plasmatic and recombinant preparations could not be confirmed as a risk factor. Furthermore, no correlation between treatment regimens, severity, patient age and comorbidities of the patients could be found.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Cenariu ◽  
E. Pall ◽  
C. Cernea ◽  
I. Groza

The purpose of this research was to evaluate three embryo biopsy techniques used for preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in cattle and to recommend the least invasive one for current use, especially when PGD is followed by embryo cryopreservation. Three hundred bovine embryos were biopsied by either one of the needle, aspiration or microblade method, and then checked for viability by freezing/thawing and transplantation to recipient cows. The number of pregnancies obtained after the transfer of biopsied frozen/thawed embryos was assessed 30 days later using ultrasounds. The results were significantly different between the three biopsy methods: the pregnancy rate was of 57% in cows that received embryos biopsied by needle, 43% in cows that received embryos biopsied by aspiration, and 31% in cows that received embryos biopsied by microblade. Choosing an adequate biopsy method is therefore of great importance in embryos that will undergo subsequent cryopreservation, as it significantly influences their viability after thawing.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3464
Author(s):  
Xuan Zou ◽  
Jingyuan Zhou ◽  
Xianwen Ran ◽  
Yiting Wu ◽  
Ping Liu ◽  
...  

Recent studies have shown that the energy release capacity of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)/Al with Si, and CuO, respectively, is higher than that of PTFE/Al. PTFE/Al/Si/CuO reactive materials with four proportions of PTFE/Si were designed by the molding–sintering process to study the influence of different PTFE/Si mass ratios on energy release. A drop hammer was selected for igniting the specimens, and the high-speed camera and spectrometer systems were used to record the energy release process and the flame spectrum, respectively. The ignition height of the reactive material was obtained by fitting the relationship between the flame duration and the drop height. It was found that the ignition height of PTFE/Al/Si/CuO containing 20% PTFE/Si is 48.27 cm, which is the lowest compared to the ignition height of other Si/PTFE ratios of PTFE/Al/Si/CuO; the flame temperature was calculated from the flame spectrum. It was found that flame temperature changes little for the same reactive material at different drop heights. Compared with the flame temperature of PTFE/Al/Si/CuO with four mass ratios, it was found that the flame temperature of PTFE/Al/Si/CuO with 20% PTFE/Si is the highest, which is 2589 K. The results show that PTFE/Al/Si/CuO containing 20% PTFE/Si is easier to be ignited and has a stronger temperature destruction effect.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Michael Leutner ◽  
Nils Haug ◽  
Luise Bellach ◽  
Elma Dervic ◽  
Alexander Kautzky ◽  
...  

Objectives: Diabetic patients are often diagnosed with several comorbidities. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between different combinations of risk factors and complications in diabetic patients. Research design and methods: We used a longitudinal, population-wide dataset of patients with hospital diagnoses and identified all patients (n = 195,575) receiving a diagnosis of diabetes in the observation period from 2003–2014. We defined nine ICD-10-codes as risk factors and 16 ICD-10 codes as complications. Using a computational algorithm, cohort patients were assigned to clusters based on the risk factors they were diagnosed with. The clusters were defined so that the patients assigned to them developed similar complications. Complication risk was quantified in terms of relative risk (RR) compared with healthy control patients. Results: We identified five clusters associated with an increased risk of complications. A combined diagnosis of arterial hypertension (aHTN) and dyslipidemia was shared by all clusters and expressed a baseline of increased risk. Additional diagnosis of (1) smoking, (2) depression, (3) liver disease, or (4) obesity made up the other four clusters and further increased the risk of complications. Cluster 9 (aHTN, dyslipidemia and depression) represented diabetic patients at high risk of angina pectoris “AP” (RR: 7.35, CI: 6.74–8.01), kidney disease (RR: 3.18, CI: 3.04–3.32), polyneuropathy (RR: 4.80, CI: 4.23–5.45), and stroke (RR: 4.32, CI: 3.95–4.71), whereas cluster 10 (aHTN, dyslipidemia and smoking) identified patients with the highest risk of AP (RR: 10.10, CI: 9.28–10.98), atherosclerosis (RR: 4.07, CI: 3.84–4.31), and loss of extremities (RR: 4.21, CI: 1.5–11.84) compared to the controls. Conclusions: A comorbidity of aHTN and dyslipidemia was shown to be associated with diabetic complications across all risk-clusters. This effect was amplified by a combination with either depression, smoking, obesity, or non-specific liver disease.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000313482198903
Author(s):  
Mitsuru Ishizuka ◽  
Norisuke Shibuya ◽  
Kazutoshi Takagi ◽  
Hiroyuki Hachiya ◽  
Kazuma Tago ◽  
...  

Objective To explore the impact of appendectomy history on emergence of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Background Although there are several studies to investigate the relationship between appendectomy history and emergence of PD, the results are still controversial. Methods We performed a comprehensive electronic search of the literature (the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and the Web of Science) up to April 2020 to identify studies that had employed databases allowing comparison of emergence of PD between patients with and those without appendectomy history. To integrate the impact of appendectomy history on emergence of PD, a meta-analysis was performed using random-effects models to calculate the risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the selected studies, and heterogeneity was analyzed using I2 statistics. Results Four studies involving a total of 6 080 710 patients were included in this meta-analysis. Among 1 470 613 patients with appendectomy history, 1845 (.13%) had emergences of PD during the observation period, whereas among 4 610 097 patients without appendectomy history, 6743 (.15%) had emergences of PD during the observation period. These results revealed that patients with appendectomy history and without appendectomy had almost the same emergence of PD (RR, 1.02; 95% CI, .87-1.20; P = .83; I2 = 87%). Conclusion This meta-analysis has demonstrated that there was no significant difference in emergence of PD between patients with and those without appendectomy history.


Reproduction ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 162 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-191
Author(s):  
Jessica Ispada ◽  
Aldcejam Martins da Fonseca Junior ◽  
Otávio Luiz Ramos Santos ◽  
Camila Bruna de Lima ◽  
Erika Cristina dos Santos ◽  
...  

Metabolic and molecular profiles were reported as different for bovine embryos with distinct kinetics during the first cleavages. In this study, we used this same developmental model (fast vs slow) to determine if the relationship between metabolism and developmental kinetics affects the levels of acetylation or tri-methylation at histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9ac and H3K9me3, respectively). Fast and slow developing embryos presented different levels of H3K9ac and H3K9me3 from the earliest stages of development (40 and 96 hpi) and up to the blastocyst stage. For H3K9me3, both groups of embryos presented a wave of demethylation and de novo methylation, although it was more pronounced in fast than slow embryos, resulting in blastocysts with higher levels of this mark. The H3K9ac reprogramming profile was distinct between kinetics groups. While slow embryos presented a wave of deacetylation, followed by an increase in this mark at the blastocyst stage, fast embryos reduced this mark throughout all the developmental stages studied. H3K9me3 differences corresponded to writer and eraser transcript levels, while H3K9ac patterns were explained by metabolism-related gene expression. To verify if metabolic differences could alter levels of H3K9ac, embryos were cultured with sodium-iodoacetate (IA) or dichloroacetate (DCA) to disrupt the glycolytic pathway or increase acetyl-CoA production, respectively. IA reduced H3K9ac while DCA increased H3K9ac in blastocysts. Concluding, H3K9me3 and H3K9ac patterns differ between embryos with different kinetics, the second one explained by metabolic pathways involved in acetyl-CoA production. So far, this is the first study demonstrating a relationship between metabolic differences and histone post-translational modifications in bovine embryos.


1995 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 347-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Felipe Criado Boado ◽  
Ramón Fábregas Valcarce

This paper discusses the relationship between the earlier prehistoric pattern of settlement in Atlantic Europe and the creation of rock art. It investigates the organisation of the Copper Age and Early Bronze Age landscape of north-west Spain using the evidence provided by the distribution, siting, and composition of rock carvings. It presents the results of field survey in three sample areas extending from the centre to the outer edge of their distribution. Although these drawings cannot be interpreted as illustrations of daily life, they may have helped to define rights to particular resources in an area which experienced abrupt changes of ground conditions over the course of the year.


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