scholarly journals Sexual maturity of mares and prospects for shortening the intergenerational period in horses

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (02) ◽  
pp. 6201-2019
Author(s):  
WIESŁAWA MŁODAWSKA ◽  
MARIAN TISCHNER

The aim of the study is to present current knowledge on the mechanisms regulating puberty in mares and the possibility of shortening the intergenerational period in horses through modern animal reproduction biotechnology. The study discusses fetal sex recognition in horses by means of ultrasound, pre- and postnatal development of mare gonads, oogenesis and folliculogenesis, as well as the process of selection and elimination of oocytes. It also describes the role of gonadotropins, ovarian hormonal activity and morphological changes occurring during sexual maturation. It has been shown that about 37% of mares attain sexual maturity in the first year of life. It has also been documented that one-year and two-year-old fillies produce normal embryos that can be used for transplantation and give offspring. It has also been proved that embryos can be produced in vitro from oocytes of juvenile mares. There is hope that acquiring preantral follicles from the ovary and their in vitro culture until the oocyte reaches full maturity for fertilization will permit us to obtain embryos and offspring from mares, including those sexually immature. These methods, combined with in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer techniques, have already made it possible to obtain normal embryos and even live-born offspring in other mammals.

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 306
Author(s):  
G. L. Santos ◽  
L. T. S. Yamazaki ◽  
E. C. D. Benzi ◽  
D. P. Corneglian ◽  
M. Romano ◽  
...  

According to the animal reproduction biotechnologies, in vitro fertilization is considered one of the most important tools to improve genetic gain as well as reduce bovine herd generations. Brazil is recognized as having the greatest commercial bovine herd in the world as well as by its use of IVP; however, this biotechnology needs more studies to improve not only the oocyte-embryo conversion rate but also the competent oocyte recovery from donor cows. Recently, one Nelore donor cow in 3 sessions was able to convert 233 (53.81%) embryos from 433 oocytes recovered, which resulted in 156 pregnancies (55.95%), which means one pregnancy per 2.7 oocytes or 3.05 pregnancies per week (when 51 weeks are admitted in one year). The COC obtained from this donor were matured (TCM-199, supplemented with FCS, LH, FSH, E2, pyruvate, and antibiotic) for 24 h and fertilized (Fert-TALP supplemented with BSA, PHE, and heparin) for 18 to 22 h (Day 0) in vitro. On Day 1, presumptive zygotes were transferred to development media (SOFaa supplemented with BSA and FCS) and on Day 7 the blastocyst production rate was evaluated. Following embryo transfer, the pregnancy diagnosis was performed at 30 days and confirmed at 60 days after ET. The possibility of identification of factors related to high performance and its selection could improve the formation of a homogeneous bovine herd, highly correlated with embryo production, which numerically could promote more than fifty calves per year (more than one calf per week). This case report refers to an animal highly superior to the average and therefore needs more investigation, mainly with molecular markers able to identify and select this class of high genetic animal. Table 1.Embryo production performance


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4368
Author(s):  
Heriberto Rodriguez-Martinez ◽  
Emilio A. Martinez ◽  
Juan J. Calvete ◽  
Fernando J. Peña Vega ◽  
Jordi Roca

Seminal plasma (SP), the non-cellular component of semen, is a heterogeneous composite fluid built by secretions of the testis, the epididymis and the accessory sexual glands. Its composition, despite species-specific anatomical peculiarities, consistently contains inorganic ions, specific hormones, proteins and peptides, including cytokines and enzymes, cholesterol, DNA and RNA—the latter often protected within epididymis- or prostate-derived extracellular vesicles. It is beyond question that the SP participates in diverse aspects of sperm function pre-fertilization events. The SP also interacts with the various compartments of the tubular genital tract, triggering changes in gene function that prepares for an eventual successful pregnancy; thus, it ultimately modulates fertility. Despite these concepts, it is imperative to remember that SP-free spermatozoa (epididymal or washed ejaculated) are still fertile, so this review shall focus on the differences between the in vivo roles of the SP following semen deposition in the female and those regarding additions of SP on spermatozoa handled for artificial reproduction, including cryopreservation, from artificial insemination to in vitro fertilization. This review attempts, including our own results on model animal species, to critically summarize the current knowledge of the reproductive roles played by SP components, particularly in our own species, which is increasingly affected by infertility. The ultimate goal is to reconcile the delicate balance between the SP molecular concentration and their concerted effects after temporal exposure in vivo. We aim to appraise the functions of the SP components, their relevance as diagnostic biomarkers and their value as eventual additives to refine reproductive strategies, including biotechnologies, in livestock models and humans.


Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 759
Author(s):  
Gaku Yamanaka ◽  
Fuyuko Takata ◽  
Yasufumi Kataoka ◽  
Kanako Kanou ◽  
Shinichiro Morichi ◽  
...  

Pericytes are a component of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) neurovascular unit, in which they play a crucial role in BBB integrity and are also implicated in neuroinflammation. The association between pericytes, BBB dysfunction, and the pathophysiology of epilepsy has been investigated, and links between epilepsy and pericytes have been identified. Here, we review current knowledge about the role of pericytes in epilepsy. Clinical evidence has shown an accumulation of pericytes with altered morphology in the cerebral vascular territories of patients with intractable epilepsy. In vitro, proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β, TNFα, and IL-6, cause morphological changes in human-derived pericytes, where IL-6 leads to cell damage. Experimental studies using epileptic animal models have shown that cerebrovascular pericytes undergo redistribution and remodeling, potentially contributing to BBB permeability. These series of pericyte-related modifications are promoted by proinflammatory cytokines, of which the most pronounced alterations are caused by IL-1β, a cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of epilepsy. Furthermore, the pericyte-glial scarring process in leaky capillaries was detected in the hippocampus during seizure progression. In addition, pericytes respond more sensitively to proinflammatory cytokines than microglia and can also activate microglia. Thus, pericytes may function as sensors of the inflammatory response. Finally, both in vitro and in vivo studies have highlighted the potential of pericytes as a therapeutic target for seizure disorders.


2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Alberto Feldens ◽  
Italo Medeiros Faraco Junior ◽  
Andréia Bertani Ottoni ◽  
Eliane Gerson Feldens ◽  
Márcia Regina Vítolo

Objective: To investigate the occurrence and management of teething symptoms during the first year of life and associated factors. Study design: 500 children were recruited at birth. Research assessments including structured interviews, anthropometric measurements and dental examination were carried out after birth, at 6 months and at one-year of age. The primary outcome of this study was defined as the occurrence of one or more teething symptoms within the first year of life, as reported by the mother. Results: Teething symptoms were reported in 73% of the children analyzed (273/375). The symptoms most frequently reported were irritability (40.5%), fever (38.9%), diarrhoea (36.0%) and itching (33.6%). Dentists had little influence on the management of symptoms and self-medication to relieve them was a common practice. The risk of reporting teething symptoms was higher for children from nuclear families (p=0.040) and for children from families with higher income (p=0.040). Conclusions: Teething symptoms were highly reported in this population. Pediatric dentists should be accessible and provide adequate orientation when symptoms can be managed at home or immediate referral to health services when more serious diseases are suspected.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-500
Author(s):  
Rosa Lee Nemir ◽  
Donna O'Hare ◽  
Stanley Goldstein ◽  
Charles B. Hilton

Complement fixing antibody titers to the adenoviruses were determined in 251 newborn infants, using cord blood. Approximately 95% of these were found to have CF titers of 1:16 or over, the majority (75%) were 1:32 or more. Material from the pharyngeal and rectal swabs of these infants on tissue culture studies (542) on HeLa and amnion cells showed no cytopathic effect in oven 96% of these infants. A longitudinal study of 114 of these infants was made at 3 months intervals; 67 have been observed for one year. At 3 months, only 12% still showed CF antibody titers, and these were chiefly at a low level, 1:16. At the subsequent 3-month interval observations, a gradual rise in CF antibodies were found. At one year of age, approximately 37% had titers of 1:32 on over. The findings of this report support the statement that CF antibodies to adenovirus pass the placental barrier. There is a gradual increase in the percentage of infants with positive CF antibodies after 3 months.


2003 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Wasniewska ◽  
F De Luca ◽  
A Cassio ◽  
N Oggiaro ◽  
P Gianino ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate in a cohort of infants with congenital hypothyroidism (CH): (a) the frequency of bone maturation (BM) retardation at birth and (b) whether BM delay at birth may be considered as a tool to make a prognosis of psychomotor status at the age of 1 Year, irrespective of other variables related to treatment. DESIGN: BM at birth, CH severity and developmental quotient (DQ) at the age of 1 Year were retrospectively evaluated in 192 CH infants selected by the following inclusion criteria: (a) gestation age ranging between 38 and 42 weeks; (b) onset of therapy within the first Month of life; (c) initial thyroxine (l-T(4)) dosage ranging from 10 to 12 microg/kg/day; (d) normalization of serum thyrotropin (TSH) levels before the age of 3 Months; (e) Monthly adjustments of l-T(4) dose during the first Year of life with serum TSH levels ranging from 0.5 to 4 mIU/l; (f) no major diseases and/or physical handicaps associated with CH; (g) availability of both thyroid scanning and knee X-rays at the time of treatment initiation; (h) availability of DQ assessment at an average age of 12 Months. METHODS: BM was considered normal if the distal femur bony nucleus diameter exceeded 3 mm (group A) or retarded if either this nucleus was absent (subgroup B1) or its diameter was <3 mm (subgroup B2). DQ was evaluated with the Brunet-Lezine test. RESULTS: In 44.3% of cases BM was either delayed (23.5%) or severely delayed (20.8%). The risk of BM retardation was higher in the patients with athyreosis than in the remaining patients (41/57 vs 44/135, chi(2)=25.13, P<0.005). BM-retarded infants showed a more severe biochemical picture of CH at birth and a lower DQ at the age of one Year compared with the group A patients. If compared with infants of subgroup B2 those of subgroup B1 exhibited significantly lower T(4) levels at birth and a more frequent association with athyreosis (70.0 vs 30.0%; chi(2)=7.49, P<0.01), whereas DQ was superimposable in both subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: (a) BM at birth is delayed in almost half of CH patients and (b) CH severity per se can affect DQ at the age of 1 Year irrespective of other variables related to therapy.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-227
Author(s):  
Merlin L. Cooper ◽  
Edward W. Walters ◽  
Helen M. Keller ◽  
James M. Sutherland ◽  
Hollis J. Wiseman

During an outbreak of epidemic diarrhea a new serotype of Escherichia coli: E. coli 0127:B8, was isolated from 44 of 145 infants and from 1 nurse among 82 adult personnel in attendance. Among the 44 infants whose rectal swab cultures were positive, 20 were in the first month of life, 16 were 2 to 6 months of age, and 6 were 7 to 12 months of age, a total of 42 being in the first year of life. Severe epidemic diarrhea associated with the presence of E. coli 0127:B8 was characterized by the sudden development of extreme abdominal distention among some of the infants; explosive onset of diarrhea and the presence of a pungent, musty, objectionable odor not noticed around other patients with diarrhea. E. coli 0127: B8 was isolated more frequently while the patients were having diarrhea. Neomycin® was used orally for the specific treatment of patients with diarrhea. The early dosage was small due to our caution in using a new antibiotic. Over the 4 months period of this study the dosage was gradually increased. The average dose was 40 mg./kg./day for the patients with positive cultures and 46 mg./kg./day for those with negative cultures. Of 22 patients with positive cultures, 12 who were treated with Neomycin® alone or in addition to other antibiotics continued to show the presence of E. coli 0127:B8 after Neomycin® therapy had been terminated; however, only 2 of these patients had recurrence of diarrhea, both having had negative cultures while receiving Neomycin®. The administration of Neomycin® to every infant on the 2 wards, regardless of clinical condition, was followed by a decreasing incidence of diarrhea and decreasing detection of E. coli 0127:B8. The dose of Neomycin® was 40 to 50 mg./kg./day. It is our feeling that Neomycin® administered orally was of definite clinical value therapeutically and prophylactically but in the dosage used was inadequate bacteriologically. Four deaths occurred among the 44 infants whose rectal swab cultures were positive for E. coli 0127:B8 and necropsy studies were made on each. A hemorrhagic enteritis was present in 3 infants and in the fourth infant the cause of death was a congenital heart condition. Death of 1 patient with negative rectal swab cultures may very likely be attributed to severe diarrhea. Sera from patients and personnel failed to show the presence of agglutinins for E. coli 0127:B8. in vitro sensitivity tests showed that the order of decreasing bactericidal effectiveness of 5 antibiotics for E. coli 027:B8 was polymyxin, Neomycin®, chloramphenicol, Achromycin®, and Terramycin®. All strains were resistant to dihydrostreptomycin and sodium sulfadiazine. Only the last strains isolated from 2 patients showed increased resistance to Neomycin®, four-and sixteenfold when compared with the first strains isolated from the same patients.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 753-762
Author(s):  
James A. Wolff ◽  
Alice M. Goodfellow

Normal values in the first 3 months of life have been determined for hemoglobin, erythrocytes, reticulocytes, platelets, leukocytes and differential counts for premature infants with birth weights less than 1200 gm., and for those between 1200 and 1500 gm. at birth. No significant difference was found in the degree of depression of levels of hemoglobin and erythrocytes when values in the 2 weight groups were compared. Two reticulocyte peaks occur during the first 3 months of life. The first peak is present immediately after birth. The second peak, at about the eighth week, coincides with the occurrence of the greatest degree of anemia. Neither iron therapy nor treatment with animal-protein factor containing vitamin B12 and Aureomycin®, started before the end of the third week of life, had a statistically significant effect on the early phase of the anemia of prematurity. Untreated premature infants and those given animal-protein factor were anemic at the end of the first year of life. Subjects given iron therapy had normal hemoglobin values at one year of age. Blood transfusion is rarely necessary in the treatment of the anemia of prematurity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-149
Author(s):  
Ariane Pailhé ◽  
Lidia Panico ◽  
Marieke Heers

This paper characterises families where the father is not living (or not living permanently) with the child from around birth, and identifies the drivers of the evolution of father contact over the first year of life across different types of household. We use a recent, nationally representative cohort of children born in France in 2011, Elfe (the Etude longitudinale française depuis l’enfance), and latent clustering techniques to identify different groups of households characterised by non-residential fatherhood. We show that non-residential fatherhood from around birth is not a marginal phenomenon in France, and it corresponds to a heterogeneity of situations, describing both advantaged and low involvement fathers, as well less disadvantaged but involved groups. Over the first year of life, most non-resident fathers managed to keep in contact with their child, including relatively disadvantaged groups such as migrant and young parents, although groups characterised by low father involvement shortly after birth lost contact. On the other hand, among a group of very involved non-resident fathers who were in a relationship with the mother, we observed high levels of contact and indeed co-residence when the child was one year of age. A number of channels emerged to explain the correlations between our latent groups and father contact at one year: notably, father engagement around birth, especially whether the father formally recognised the child. Trajectories of father–child involvement and of parental relationships are therefore at least as important as socio-economic conditions to understand future father contact.


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