Background: Since the sheep ‘Dolly’ was successfully cloned by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), the inefficiency of SCNT cloning and abnormality of cloned animals have been a focus of considerable controversy. Oocyte quality has been shown to contribute to poor somatic cloning and cell reprogramming efficiency with many factors affecting oocyte quality and developmental potential. It has b...

BACKGROUND Embryos produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF) have a high level of aneuploidy, which is believed to be a major factor affecting the success of human assisted reproduction treatment. The aneuploidy rate of cleavage stage embryos based on 1-2 biopsied blastomeres has been well-reported, however, the true aneuploidy rate of whole embryos remain unclear because of embryo mosaicism. To...

Rabbit does in modern rabbitries are under intensive reproductive rhythms. Females are high milk producers with high energetic expenses due to the extensive overlap between lactation and gestation. This situation leads to a negative energy balance with a mobilization of body fat especially in primiparous rabbit does. Poor body condition and poor health status severely affect the reproductive fe...

BACKGROUND The objective of this investigation was to determine the inter- and intraobserver agreement when assessing embryo quality. METHODS This investigation included 4002 cleaved embryos from 7535 oocytes retrieved in 688 patients undergoing IVF cycles in a multicentre trial. Embryos were evaluated locally at the inverted microscope at 28, 44 and 68 h (+/-1 h) post-insemination. Digital i...