Reproduction Abstracts

The ‘old’ science base generally casts androgens as ‘bad’ for folliculogenesis: agents of follicular atresia and directly involved in reproductive pathologies such as PCOS. A more recent literature has mapped cellular sites of androgen formation and action within the ovarian follicle, pinpointing theca as the source and granulosa its target. Molecular studies have located the androgen receptor (AR) to granulosa cells, functionally coupled to FSH-regulated (...

Introduction: Previous reports in different species have shown that various endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can modulate ovarian steroidogenesis with the majority of studies focussing on granulosa cells. To test the hypothesis that exposure to EDCs might also perturb thecal steroidogenesis we conducted in vitro dose–response experiments to evaluate the direct effects of selected EDCs on androstenedione and progesterone production by cultured bovine theca ce...

Upon sperm entry within the oocyte, pulsatile calcium release occurs, facilitating activation of the oocyte. While calcium signalling has been characterised in mouse oocytes, patterns within the whole cumulus oocyte complex (COC) and in larger mammals such as cow, are yet to be determined. The aim of this study was to investigate calcium changes in media, cumulus and oocytes during in vitro fertilisation in cattle oocytes.Cattle COCs were insemi...

Early embryo development is an exquisitely sensitive period of the developmental continuum, profoundly influencing neonatal and adult health. Maternal and paternal hyperglycaemia is associated with long-term health complications including increased risk of miscarriage, altered birth weight, and increased incidence of diabetes and metabolic syndrome in adult life. The mechanisms underlying this intergenerational transmission of disease remain unclear. New evidence has implicate...

Introduction: Cyclic ovarian function involves continual tissue remodelling. During ovulation macrophages invade the ovary and secret pro-inflammatory cytokines such us TNF- and IL6 that have local actions on ovarian cells. Here we investigated i) the effect of macrophages on secretion of oestradiol by granulosa cells (TC) and androstenedione by theca cells (TC) and ii) the effect of macrophages on TC and stroma cell (SC) migration was also assessed using an in vitro ...

Introduction: Kisspeptin, a neuropeptide secreted in the hypothalamus and encoded by the Kiss-1 gene, has a role in promoting the release of GnRH and LH in various species. However, the possibility that kisspeptin exerts additional ‘peripheral’ actions at the level of the bovine gonad has not been investigated. The current aims were to investigate whether: i) kiss-1 and its receptor (GPR54) are expressed in the bovine ovary; ii) kisspeptin or kisspeptin antagonist ca...

Introduction: The interdisciplinary field of microrobotics recently sparked interest especially in potential applications of mobile microscale devices that can operate remotely-controlled inside the human body. This study presents an approach towards such an application, namely assisted reproduction with the help of tiny sperm carriers, so-called spermbots. Spermbots are synthetic tubes or helices that couple to single sperm cells and assist their movement by providing guidanc...

Introduction: Oocytes acquire developmental competence with progressive folliculogenesis. Cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) from small antral follicles are commonly used in IVM but have inherent low competence and are poorly responsive to amphiregulin (AREG) which normally mediates oocyte maturation. Here we examined effects of bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15), growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9), and dbcAMP on the maturation and subsequent developmental competence ...

Introduction: Preventing spontaneous maturation in vitro by adding cAMP regulators is thought to maintain the communication between oocyte and cumulus cells via gap junction communication (GJC), hence promoting developmental competence. We aimed to assess the integrity of gap junction maintenance in cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) after pre-maturation with IBMX and Forskolin (FSK) and the influence on bovine embryo development.Materials...

Introduction: Sperm dysfunction is the commonest cause of infertility, yet there is currently no drug a man can take, or be added to his sperm in-vitro, to improve fertility. The rationale of drug discovery research is to find a drug which increases sperm motility and success of ART. Despite limitations in understanding of sperm physiology, it is acknowledged calcium is central to motility and function. Validated high-throughput screening of compounds from University ...