BACKGROUND There are conflicting results on whether the rate of blastocyst development before freezing influences the outcome of frozen-thawed blastocyst transfers. METHODS We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled studies to compare pregnancy outcomes following transfer of thawed blastocysts that were frozen either on Day 5 or Day 6 following fertilization in vitro. Se...

BACKGROUND This study was to examine the developmental capacity of oocytes collected from an in vitro maturation (IVM) programme according to their maturation time. METHODS The study included 47 IVM cycles that underwent blastocyst transfer. The patients (n = 38) were primed with 10 000 IU HCG 36 h before their oocyte retrieval. The oocytes were classified into three groups: group 1 (n = 139)...

Gap junction formation was studied in the uterine epithelium of nonpregnant, pregnant, and pseudopregnant rabbits in the periimplantation phase (6, 7, 8 days post coitum/post human gonadotropin injection) using freeze-fracture and immunocytochemistry as well as intracellular Lucifer yellow injection. At implantation (7 days post coitum) the uterine epithelial cells of the implantation chamber b...

The overall goal was to describe the importance of fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) during development of the bovine embryo. An inhibitor of FGF receptor kinase activity (SU5402) was used to examine whether FGF signaling is required for embryo development. Addition of 20 μM SU5402 on Day 0 (Day of IVF) reduced (P = 0.04) the percentage of oocytes becoming blastocysts on Day 7 compared to contro...

Galectin 15 (LGALS15) is expressed specifically by the endometrial luminal epithelium (LE) of the ovine uterus in concert with blastocyst growth, elongation, and implantation. LGALS15 contains a predicted carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) as well as LDV and RGD recognition sequences for integrin binding. Studies tested the hypothesis that LGALS15 is a secreted regulator of blastocyst develo...

the aim of this study was to compare the effect of time of parthenogenetic activation (22 hr versus 27 hr after in vitro maturation-ivm) on in vitro development of ovine oocytes using either single (ionomycin 5 ?m for 5 min or ethanol 7% for 7 min) or combined (ionomycin and ethanol with 6-dmap 2 mm for 3 hr) activation treatments. the abattoir-derived in vitro matured activated oocytes were cu...

Background Recent researches reveal that manual puncturing of the trophectoderm of blastocyst before vitrification, increase the quality of embryo. However, in any of these studies, the importance of blastocoelic fluid and its impact on the formation of three cell lines is not mentioned. Therefore, in the present study, the effect of blastocoelic fluid reduction before vitrification on survival...

This study was conducted to establish an in vitro maturation (IVM) system by selection of efficient porcine serum during porcine in vitro production. To investigate the efficient porcine serum (PS), different types of PS [newborn pig serum, prepubertal gilt serum (PGS), estrus sow serum, and pregnancy sow serum] were used to supplement IVM media with or without gonadotrophin (GTH) and developme...

Previously, we have shown that a maternal low protein diet, fed exclusively during the preimplantation period of mouse development (Emb-LPD), is sufficient to induce by the blastocyst stage a compensatory growth phenotype in late gestation and postnatally, correlating with increased risk of adult onset cardiovascular disease and behavioural dysfunction. Here, we examine mechanisms of induction ...