Background: Development of cloned bovine embryos. Materials and Methods: Oocytes collection,oocyte denudation, oocyte enucleation, nuclear transfer, electrofusion, reconstructed embryo activation, culture of reconstructed and IVF embryo,and treatment with SAH post fusion interval Treatment of reconstructed embryos with TSA for 12 hours after activation, preparation of somatic donor cells, donor...

We developed a highly-functional untethered on-chip robot for cell handling and micro-knife made by Si to cut zona pellucida of oocyte. The on-chip robot has a gripping mechanism which can grasp a cell or micro-object with sufficient power. The position and handling force of the robot are controlled independently by the magnetic force. The permanent magnets and electrical magnet are assembled t...

The ability of an oocyte to successfully mature is highly dependent on intrafollicular conditions, including the size and structure of the follicle. Here we present a mathematical model of oxygen transport in the antral follicle. We relate mean oxygen concentration in follicular fluid of bovine follicles to the concentration in the immediate vicinity of the cumulus-oocyte complex (COC). The mod...

The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of various combination activators of bovine oocyte following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in terms of cleavage and embryo development. Bovine ICSI oocytes were treated with a variation of treatments of combined or single activators as follows; 30 V for 15 x 2 μsec of electrical pulse +10 μg/mL cycloheximide (CHX),7% ethanol...

2012 School of Biological Science 2 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge, with appreciation, everyone who has contributed to this research. Firstly I would like to thank my primary supervisor Professor Ken McNatty for making it possible for me to do this research and for his patience and understanding in the face of some dumb moments on my part. I couldn't have completed this without hi...

BACKGROUND Oocyte maturation and preimplantation embryo development are controlled by array of genes that are post-transcriptionally regulated by microRNAs. With respect to this, previously, we identified altered expression of microRNA-130b (miR-130b) during oocyte maturation. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of miR-130b in bovine granulosa and cumulus cell function, oocyte maturation and...

There has been no culture system that supports the growth of bovine oocytes for more than 2 weeks. In the present study, bovine secondary follicles were cultured for 4 weeks, and the effects of supplemented protein components and FSH in the culture medium on the growth of the oocytes were examined. The effect of vitrification of secondary follicles on the subsequent oocyte growth was also exami...