BACKGROUND Disturbed uterine involution impairs ovarian function in the first weeks after calving. This study analyzed the long-term effect of metritis on luteal function of 47 lactating Holstein-Friesian cows during the first four postpartum estrous cycles. Cows with abnormal uterine enlargement and malodorous lochia were classified as having metritis (group M, n = 18), and all others were con...

Background During a normal menstrual cycle, progesterone prepares the endometrium for pregnancy by stimulating proliferation in response to human chorionic Gnadotropin produced by the corpus luteum. Many questions were raised about the role of follicular fluid aspiration on the granuloma cells at the time of oocyte retrieving during the ART cycles. Authors believes that oocyte retrieval might d...

Autophagy is known to be regulated by the phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (AKT) and/or mitogen-activated protein kinase 1/2 (MEK1/2)-extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) pathways, leading to activation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a major negative regulator of autophagy. However, some reports have also suggested that autophagic regulation by the PI3K-...

The present study evaluated whether the luteal phase elevation of body temperature would be offset during exercise by increased sweating, when women are normally hydrated. Eleven women performed 60 min of cycling exercise at 60% of their maximal work load at 32 degrees C and 80% relative air humidity. Each subject participated in two identical experimental sessions: one during the follicular ph...

Ovarian sex hormones modulate neuronal circuits not directly involved in reproductive functions. In the present study, we investigated whether endogenous fluctuations of estradiol and progesterone during the menstrual cycle are associated with early cortical processing stages in a cued spatial attention paradigm. EEG was monitored while young women responded to acoustically cued visual stimuli....

Background. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate intranasal buserelin for luteal phase support and compare its efficacy with standard vaginal progesterone in IVF/ICSI antagonist cycles. Methods. This is a prospective, randomized, open, parallel group study. Forty patients underwent ovarian hyperstimulation with human menopausal gonadotropin under pituitary inhibition with gonadotropin-re...

BACKGROUND The use of progesterone for luteal support has been demonstrated to be beneficial in assisted reproductive cycles, yet the optimal route of progesterone administration has still not been established. This article is a retrospective study in a tertiary reproductive medical unit to compare luteal progesterone supplementation with vaginal gel or intramuscular progesterone. METHODS A t...

The ability of bovine follicular fluid (FF) and oviduct fluid (ODF) to capacitate sperm was determined. At concentrations of greater than 20%, both FF and ODF capacitated sperm within 4 hours, but at concentrations greater than 40%, FF also initiated the acrosome reaction. Non-luteal ODF at a concentration greater than 60% capacitated sperm within 2 hours. Non-luteal ODF maintained sperm motili...

BACKGROUND GnRH agonist (GnRHa) triggering has been shown to significantly reduce the occurrence of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) compared with hCG triggering; however, initially a poor reproductive outcome was reported after GnRHa triggering, due to an apparently uncorrectable luteal phase deficiency. Therefore, the challenge has been to rescue the luteal phase. Studies now report a...

A review of the current state of knowledge of oxytocin production by the preovulatory follicle and corpus luteum is presented. Corpora lutea of a number of mammalian species have been found to synthesize oxytocin. However, the synthesis and secretion of this nanopeptide by the corpus luteum of the ruminant has been most extensively studied because of the potential role of this peptide in facili...