BACKGROUND The ability to cryopreserve mammalian embryos has become an integral part of assisted reproduction, both in human and veterinary medicine. Despite differences in the size and physiological characteristics of embryos from various species, the embryos have been frozen by either of two procedures: slow freezing or vitrification. The aim of our study was to compare the effect of slow fre...

Bovine oocytes were matured, fertilized, and cultured FCM 199 with serum and co-culture) in vitro (IVMFC) with addition, during different phases of the procedure, of antioxidants: superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reduced glutathione (GSH). The addition of SOD (1,500 or 3,000 IU/ml) did not improve proportions of oocytes undergoing cleavage or the development of embryos to morula and blastocyst st...

The inclusion of specific amino acids in conventional culture media has been shown to enhance mammalian embryo development in vitro. Amino acids have been shown to confer their benefits to the preimplantation embryo in a number of different ways. However, their ability to buffer intracellular pH (pHi) has not been investigated. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine if amino acids regulat...

This paper describes a preliminary study to demonstrate the application of sex determination of bovine embryos using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in field conditions in Turkey. Three cows were selected according to their fertility records and physical examinations and were super ovulated following oestrus synchronization after artificial insemination. Six embryos were collected using the sta...

Background: Fibroblast growth factors are a great family of growth factors that exert variety of functions in vertebrates including cell growth, survival, differentiation and migration. FGFRs are transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptors transmitting FGF signals. Four types of FGFRs (1/2/3/4) exist in vertebrates. FGF2 is one of the FGFs detected in bovine and ovine uterus flushes, supposing that...