The first lineage segregation in the mouse embryo generates the inner cell mass (ICM), which gives rise to the pluripotent epiblast and therefore the future embryo, and the trophectoderm (TE), which will build the placenta. The TE lineage depends on the transcription factor Cdx2. However, when Cdx2 first starts to act remains unclear. Embryos with zygotic deletion of Cdx2 develop normally until...

designing and producing a proper fusion construction is the most important problem of producing large quantities of a properly folded functional protein. this construction should have all necessary components of a real gene. a good designed fusion gene construction could be cloned into a good and suitable host. clostridium perfringens is an important pathogen of humans and livestock and produce...

The current research was conducted to explore the in vitro developmental outcome and cytological/molecular quality of porcine nuclear-transferred (NT) embryos reconstituted with adult bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ABM-MSCs) that were epigenetically transformed by treatment with nonspecific inhibitor of histone deacetylases, known as trichostatin A (TSA). The cytological quality of...

The feasibility of using frozen-thawed semen in caprine IVF outside the breeding season was investigated. Electroejaculated spermatozoa from a Nubian buck were washed twice and then frozen in skim milk- or in egg yolk-based extenders. Goat oocytes were matured and inseminated by frozen-thawed spermatozoa selected by swim-up. In vitro fertilization was performed in a modified defined medium (mDM...

The distribution of 5'-nucleotidase activity in pre-implantation mouse embryos is studied by means of a cytochemical method adapted from Uusitalo & Karnovsky (1977). The enzyme activity is detected, from the 4-cell stage up to the morula stage, on discrete patches of the cell membrane between blastomeres. Appropriate controls show that this distribution is not a localization artifact due to sel...

Transcription factor TEA domain family transcription factor 4 (Tead4) is one of the key factors involved in the differentiation of the trophectoderm (TE) in murine embryos. However, knowledge on the roles of TEAD4 in preimplantation development during bovine embryos is currently limited. This study examined the transcript and protein expression patterns of TEAD4 and attempted to elucidate the f...

Developmental toxicity testing could greatly benefit from the availability of an in vitro alternative model based on the use of animal embryos that have better human-like physiology than the currently-used alternative models. These current models are insufficient, as extrapolation of the results can be challenging. Therefore, an in vitro bovine embryo culture system was used to expose individua...

The serine protease tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA) has previously been shown to be intracellular in mouse secondary oocytes and extracellular in fertilized eggs. Here we demonstrate that extracellular t-PA activity is bound to the surface of the fertilized egg. The level of t-PA activity associated with preimplantation mouse embryos decreases in the 2-cell stage embryo, then increases in 4...