Freshly ovulated rabbit oocytes were activated parthenogenetically by periodically repeated calcium stimuli generated by electric field pulses applied onto the plasma membrane. Electric field pulses of 1.8 kV cm-1 were delivered every 4 min for 1 h 30 min (22 double pulses) in a specially designed chamber. Before each pulse, the culture medium was replaced by an isotonic glucose solution contai...

This review aimed to give a brief account on the principles, techniques and applications for in vitro production (IVP) of embryos and related biotechnologies. IVP of embryos provides an excellent source of low cost embryos for basic research on developmental biology and physiology and for the application of emerging biotechnologies such as nuclear transfer, production of transgenic animals, emb...

The fate of parthenogenetic cells was investigated during development of fetal and early postnatal chimeras. On day 13 of embryonic development, considerable contribution of parthenogenetic cells was observed in all tissues of chimeric embryos, although selection against parthenogenetic cells seemed to start before day 13. Between days 13 and 15 of development, parthenogenetic cells came under ...

Mammalian parthenogenesis could not survive but aborted during mid-gestation, presumably because of lack of paternal gene expression. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the failure of parthenogenesis at early stages of development, we performed global gene expression profiling and functional analysis of parthenogenetic blastocysts in comparison with those of blastocysts from norm...

this study was designed to compare the effectiveness of different activation treatments for activation of in vitro matured oocytes and their developmental potency in mcr2aa medium so as to obtain maximum number of embryos. a total of 1090 cumulus oocyte complexes (coc’s) were collected from 480 ovaries. in vitro matured oocytes were randomly divided into four groups. group 1 in vitro matured oo...

Oocyte activation is an important process triggered by fertilization that initiates embryonic development. However, parthenogenetic activation can occur either spontaneously or with chemical treatments. The LT/Sv mouse strain is genetically predisposed to spontaneous activation. LT oocytes have a cell cycle defect and are ovulated at the metaphase I stage instead of metaphase II. A thorough und...

Article history: Received 6 March 2011 Received in revised form 12 May 2011 Accepted 20 August 2011 Studies on parthenogenetic activation of oocytes are important to improve the efficiency of nuclear transfer as artificial activation of oocytes is an essential component of nuclear transfer protocol. The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of different activation methods, cu...