background: the cells of mammalian female reproductive tract have been widely used for in vitro fertilization (ivf). this study was designed to study the effects of oviductal epithelial cells (oecs) and their conditioned medium during ivf on subsequent embryonic development and the relative abundance of zygote arrest 1 (zar1) transcript in ovine zygotes. methods: the in vitro matured ovine oocy...

Oxidative damage by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a major cause of sperm dysfunction. Excessive ROS generation reduces fertilization and enhances DNA damage of spermatozoa. Interaction between spermatozoa and oviductal epithelial cells improves the fertilizing ability of and reduces chromatin damage in spermatozoa. Our previous data showed that oviductal epithelial cell membrane proteins int...

Sperm storage within the oviductal isthmus prior to ovulation typically involves binding to oviductal epithelial cells, which are thought to modulate sperm functions including internal calcium concentration, membrane fluidity, and motility. Around the time of ovulation the spermatozoa are gradually released so that they eventually encounter the oocytes within the oviductal ampulla. Previous stu...

Isolated stromal cells from the ampullary and isthmic parts of bovine oviductal tissues were cultured in monolayer and spheroid (cell aggregate) systems. Prostaglandin F2α (PGF) plays a crucial role in oviductal contraction and is produced by oviductal epithelial cells in cattle. Since stromal cells of many organs produce PGF, PGF production by bovine oviductal stromal cells was investigated. A...

During their sojourn in the female tract, sperm come into contact with the epithelial cells that line the tract and their secretions. In the past, much attention has been given to the nature and composition of uterine and oviductal fluid [1-3] with the aim of understanding what components of these fluids may affect the events associated with fertilization and preimplantation embryo development....

Eight calves were derived from differentiated cells of a single adult cow, five from cumulus cells and three from oviductal cells out of 10 embryos transferred to surrogate cows (80 percent success). All calves were visibly normal, but four died at or soon after birth from environmental causes, and postmortem analysis revealed no abnormality. These results show that bovine cumulus and oviductal...

It was previously documented that cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent intracellular mechanisms can be involved in control of reproductive processes, and pharmacological regulators of these mechanisms could be practically used to improve rabbit fertility (Sirotkin et al. 2008; Sirotkin et al. 2010a; Chrenek et al. 2012). Changes in fertility could be due to changes in oviductal functions. The aim of our...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of donor cell passage, size and type on the development of nuclear transfer embryos. Porcine cumulus cells, fetal fibroblasts and oviductal epithelial cells from 1-2, 3-6 and 7-10 passages were used for the nuclear transfer. In the oocytes with the cumulus donor cells, fusion and cleavage rates of oocytes and cell numbers per blastocyst among...

BACKGROUND Mating changes the mode of action of 17beta-estradiol (E2) to accelerate oviductal egg transport from a nongenomic to a genomic mode, although in both pathways estrogen receptors (ER) are required. This change was designated as intracellular path shifting (IPS). METHODS Herein, we examined the subcellular distribution of ESR1 and ESR2 (formerly known as ER-alpha and ER-beta) in ovi...