Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) is known as an important biomarker for fetal abnormality during first trimester and has a pivotal role in follicle development and corpus luteum formation. And also, it is being revealed that an expression of PAPP-A in various cells and tissues such as cancer and lesion area. PAPP-A is the major IGF binding protein-4 (IGFBP-4) protease. Cleavage of IGFBP-4 results in loss of binding affinity for IGF, causing increased IGF bioavailability for proliferation, survival, and migration. Additionally, PAPP-A can be used as a promising therapeutic target for healthy longevity. Despite growing interest, almost nothing is known about how PAPP-A expression is regulated in any tissue. This review will focus on what is currently known about the zinc metalloproteinase, PAPP-A, and its role in cells and tissues. PAPP-A is expressed in proliferating cells such as fetus in uterus, granulosa cells in follicle, dermis in wound, cancer cells, and Sertoli cells in testis. They have common characteristics of proliferation faster than normal cells with stimulating IGFs action and inhibiting IGFBPs. The PAPP-A functions and expression studies in livestock have not yet been conducted much. Further studies are needed to use PAPP-A as a marker for healthy longevity in animal science.

Mecoprop-p, a chlorophenoxy herbicide, has been widely used since the 1980s. Due to its high water solubility, it could be detected in the aquatic environment, as it has already been detected in the surface water or groundwater in several countries. The toxicity of other chlorophenoxy herbicides has been reported; however, there are few studies on the toxicity of mecoprop-p, one of the chlorophenoxy herbicides, on aquatic organisms. Here, we investigated the toxic effects of mecoprop-p using zebrafish. After mecoprop-p exposure, we observed that the zebrafish larvae eyes did not form normally, heart edema was generated, and the body length was shortened. The number of cells undergoing apoptosis also increased in the anterior part including head, heart, and yolk sac of the mecoprop-p-treated zebrafish compared to the untreated controls. Moreover, cardiovascular structures, including the heart and aortic arches, were also malformed after exposure to mecoprop-p. Therefore, our results suggest that mecoprop-p could cause abnormal development in zebrafish larvae and there is also a high possibility that mecoprop-p would be toxic to other aquatic organisms.

Bovine mammary epithelial (MAC-T) cells are commonly used to study mammary gland development and mastitis. Lipopolysaccharide is a major bacterial cell membrane component that can induce inflammation. Autophagy is an important regulatory mechanism participating in the elimination of invading pathogens. In this study, we evaluated the mechanism underlying bacterial mastitis and mammary cell death following lipopolysaccharide treatment. After 24 h of 50 ㎍/mL lipopolysaccharide treatment, a significant decrease in the proliferation rate of MAC-T cells was observed. However, no changes were observed upon treatment of MAC-T cells with 10 ㎍/mL of lipopolysaccharide for up to 48 h. Thus, upon lipopolysaccharide treatment, MAC-T cells exhibit dose-dependent effects of growth inhibition at 10 ㎍/mL and death at 50 ㎍/mL. Treatment of MAC-T cells with 50 ㎍/mL lipopolysaccharide also induced the expression of autophagy-related genes ATG3, ATG5, ATG10, ATG12, MAP1LC3B, GABARAP-L2, and BECN1. The autophagy-related LC3A/B protein was also expressed in a dose-dependent manner upon lipopolysaccharide treatment. Based on these results, we suggest that a high dose of bacterial infection induces mammary epithelial cell death related to autophagy signals.

Norflurazon is widely used on agricultural lands and has a high potential to pollute water sources. However, its effects on fish have not been fully elucidated. The purpose of our study was to determine whether norflurazon adversely affects the developmental stage of zebrafish, which are frequently used as a model system to evaluate the environmental impact of pollutants. Norflurazon interfered with the hatching of zebrafish embryos and induced several sublethal deformities including body length reduction, increased yolk sac volume, and enlargement of the pericardial region. We further examined the cardiotoxicity of norflurazon in the flk1:eGFP transgenic zebrafish line. The vascular network, mainly in the brain region, was significantly disrupted in norflurazon-exposed zebrafish. In addition, due to the failure of cardiac looping, norflurazon-exposed zebrafish had an abnormal cardiac structure. These developmental abnormalities were related to the apoptotic process triggered by norflurazon. Overall, the present study demonstrated the non-target toxicity of norflurazon by analyzing the hazardous effects of norflurazon on developing zebrafish.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an endotoxin factor present in the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria and induces various immune responses to infection. Recent studies have reported that LPS induces cellular stress in various cells including oocytes and embryos. Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is a regulatory hormone of circadian rhythm and a powerful antioxidant. It has been known that melatonin has an effective function in scavenging oxygen free radicals and has been used as an antioxidant to reduce the cytotoxic effects induced by LPS. However, the effect of melatonin on LPS treated early embryonic development has not yet been confirmed. In this study, we cultured mouse embryos in medium supplemented with LPS or/and melatonin up to the blastocyst stage in vitro and then evaluated the developmental rate. As a result of the LPS-treatment, the rate of blastocyst development was significantly reduced compared to the control group in all the LPS groups. Next, in the melatonin only treated group, there was no statistical difference in embryonic development and no toxic effects were observed. And then we found that the treatment of melatonin improved the rates of compaction and blastocyst development of LPS-treated embryos. In addition, we showed that melatonin treatment decreased ROS levels compared to the LPS only treated group. In conclusion, we demonstrated the protective effect of melatonin on the embryonic developmental rate reduced by LPS. These results suggest a direction to improve reproduction loss that may occur due to LPS exposure and bacterial infection through the using of melatonin during in vitro culture.

Subgroups of sperm which share similar motility features documented in mammals indicate between-subject variations that might be related to fertilizing potential of the respective ejaculates. The objectives of this study were to define subpopulations of motile sperm in Gyr falcon semen using kinematic parameters driven by Computer Assisted Semen Analysis (CASA) and to investigate the subject-related variations in these subpopulations. A total of 24 fresh ejaculates from 6 falcons were used to assign each of the 20473 sperms into 3 subpopulations by a multivariate cluster analysis. The proportion of sperms in different sub-populations were compared among subjects by a generalized linear model and repeatability of sperm frequency in different subpopulations was investigated by corelation analysis. The resulting 3 categories of sperm indicated significant differences in all kinematic parameters (p < 0.05). Subpopulation 1 (15.91%) contained sperms with the highest velocity and progressiveness of movement trajectory while subpopulation 3 (6.4%) included the least progressively motile sperms. Proportion of rapid and medium progressive sperm were consistently higher in the ejaculate of three falcons compared to the two other birds which also had the highest proportion of slow non-progressive sperms (p < 0.05). Respective proportion of sperms in each subpopulations indicated significant repeatability over multiple measurements (p < 0.05). In conclusion, subpopulations of motile sperm in Gyr falcon can be identified using kinematic parameters generated by CASA. Individual differences in the proportion of these subpopulations might have potential application for identifying the males with higher fertilizing capacity.

This study investigated the influence of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) and progesterone on acrosome reaction and proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) composition boar sperm. The sperm were diluted with semen extender and incubated with NaHCO₃ and progesterone at 38℃, 5% CO₂ for 6 h. Plasma membrane integrity and acrosome reaction were analyzed using SYBR14/propidium iodide (PI) and FITC-PNA/PI doubling staining method, and proportion of PUFA was analyzed using gas chromatography. In results, Plasma membrane integrity was significantly decreased in 50 mM NaHCO₃ group and acrosome reaction was significantly increased by over the 100 mM NaHCO₃ group compared to control group (p < 0.05). In addition, progesterone significantly increased decreased plasma membrane integrity at 100 mM progesterone and acrosome reaction at over the 5.0 µM progesterone (p < 0.05), but there was no difference among the 5.0 to 100 µM groups. PUFAs were significantly decreased in 100 mM NaHCO₃ and 50 µM progesterone treatments compared to control group. In summary NaHCO₃ and progesterone induce acrosome reaction and reduce PUFA composition in boar sperm, therefore, the results maybe help to understand basically knowledge for the acrosome reaction and PUFA composition in boar sperm.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is frequently observed in intact middle-aged or older male dogs with symptoms ranging from asymptomatic to various symptoms such as urination, dyschezia, dysuria, tenesmus, and intermittent serosanguinous or clear serous exudate. A 4-year-old, intact male Welsh corgi with symptoms of intermittent hematuria and serosanguinous exudate at the urethral opening was diagnosed with BPH and intraprostatic hematocyst through ultrasonographic examination and cytology test. The dog was internationally adopted for reproductive purposes and needed to undergo BPH treatment while maintaining fertility. Thus, 2.5 mg finasteride was administered orally once a day for treatment option and therapeutic effects were observed, including loss of clinical symptoms and reduced prostate and intraparenchymal cyst size.