• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.1-20
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• 1990

Follicular atresia is a universal and characteristic phenomenon of both non-mammalian and mammalian vertebrates. Generally it is estimated that greater than 99% of follicles become atretic in higher domestic animals and human. The number of selected follicles developing to the preovulatory stage are thus fewer. Follicles can become atretic at any stage of development. The previous studies emphasized on descriptive and retrospect aspects of a limited population of the fully grown preovulatory follicle. The main efforts in ovarian physilogical researches are focused on follicular development culminating in ovulation but recent advances have resulted in a better understanding of atresia. Nowadays, recent studies are concentrated on the induction of atresia in a selected population of follicles and of the associated cellular, endocrine, biochemical and molecular changes. The factors initiating atresia and follicle selections are worthy of investigations. Another intriguing question is whether one can predict when a follicle will become atretic, i.e., what biochemical markers indicate that a follicle is destined for atresia. It is generally agreed that atretic process may vary even in antral follicles at different stages of their differentiations and among species. The dicisive factors are follicular responsiveness and the hormonal milieu. Some generalizations can be made on the basis of experimental induction of atresia. Alteration of the pattern of follicular steroid production is associated with the initiation stage of atretic process. Atresia appears to be a process unfolding gradually and affecting progressively in increasing number of functions and components of the follicle. The oocyte may be the latest to be afflicted in the atretic process. The high steroidogenic activity of atretic follicles lends support to the notion that atresia is not necessarily a degenerative process and that atretic follicles may play an essential role in ovarian physiology. The simultaneous occurence of growth and atretic processes may render the search for regulatory mechanisms involved in atresia difficult extremely. The questions such as how follicles are selected to undergo ovulation rather than atresia or what the mechanism of atresia is remain unanswered. However, the factors regulating or modifying ovarian hormonal milieu for the initiation of follicular growth and maturation or of atresia are being elucidated.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제17권12호
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• pp.1647-1651
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• 2004

The follicles (1.8 to 7.8 mm in diameter) were recovered from the ovaries in marketed pigs and the number of granulosa cells, the diameter of oocytes obtained from different development stages of the follicles and follicular fluid levels were determined. Correlations between size measurements and cell counts as well as the diameter of antral follicles and oocytes were also investigated. The results indicated that, while expanding in size, follicle numbers decreased with a greater atretic proportion. Granulosa cells increased in numbers continuously and remained unchanged beyond the size of 200 ${mm}^3$ in non-atretic follicles, whereas a sudden drop of granulosa counts was observed in atretic follicles. Follicular fluid, on the other hand, linearly increased its volume with follicle size and differed little between those of non-atretic and atretic follicles. Diameters of oocytes in non-atretic follicles increased to its maximum when follicles expanded to 150 ${mm}^3$ and maintained its size during later follicular expansion. It is concluded that, for in vitro culture, the optimal size of porcine follicle should be between 150 to 180 ${mm}^3$if they are collected from pre-pubertal gilts of marketing size slaughtered in an abattoir.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.13-17
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• 2000

FSH는 미성숙 설치류의 난포성장을 촉진하며, 강소형성 난포의 퇴화비율을 감소시킨다. 본 연구는 미성숙 생쥐에 난포성숙호르몬을 투여한 후 유발되는 난포의 조직학적인 변화를 규명하기 위해 시행되었다. 3주령의 ICR생쥐에 10 i.u.의 재조합 난포자극호르몬을 복강주사한 후 1일, 2일, 3일에 좌측 난소의 조직학적 변화를 관찰하였다. 강소형성전 난포의경우 FSH처리 후 시간에 따라 퇴화난포의 비율이 증가하였으나 강소형성 난포의 경우에는 유의한 변화를 보이지 않았다. 퇴화되는 양상은 난포 내 세포자연사하는 과립세포의 증가, 대식세포 및 다형다핵백혈구의 증가 등이 관찰되었다. 이상의 결과로 보아, 과량의 FSH처리 후에 유발되는 난포의 퇴화는 과립세포의 세포자연사뿐 아니라 급성 염증반응을 수반하는 것으로 생각된다.

• 한국동물생명공학회지
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.40-49
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• 2019

Chronic and unpredictable stress can disrupt the female reproductive system by suppression for secretion of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and gonadotrophin, resulted in ovarian malfunction and infertility. In the recent days, kisspeptin has been highly highlighted as a hypothalamic peptide which directly stimulates synthesis and release for GnRH. However, in spite of the key role of kisspeptin in the female reproductive system, little information is still available on the changes of its expression during ovarian cycle under stressed condition. Therefore, we induced chronic and unpredictable stress series to the female mice to analyze kisspeptin expression in the brain and ovary. Stressed mice exhibited changes of behavior and body weight gain during the stress assessment, which suggested that the present stress model in mice was successfully established. In the brain level, kisspeptin expression was attenuated than control. In the ovary level, the stressed mice displayed irregularly shrunk oocytes with broken zona pellucida throughout the follicle stages, pyknotic granulosa cells, decreased number of developing follicles and increased number of atretic follicles than the control. In case of kisspeptin expression in the whole ovary tissue, the expression level was decreased in the stressed mice. In detail, the less intensity of kisspeptin expression in the antral follicles phase was observed in the stressed mice than control mice, indicating that local function of kisspeptin during ovary cycle is highly associated with development of ovarian follicles. We expect that the present study has important implications for the fields of reproductive biology.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.21-27
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• 2006

고양이의 연령에 따른 난포의 분포를 알아보고 난포의 배양과 난자 생산의 가능성을 알아보고자 0.3세부터 5세까지의 총 41 마리 고양이를 난소 적출술 후 사용하였다. 고양이 난소의 무게와 크기를 측정하고 난포의 분포를 알아보기 위해 난소를 10% formalin에 보관한 후 고정된 난소를 $3{\mu}m$-sections으로 자른 후 조직 슬라이드를 준비하여 hematoxylin와 eosin으로 염색하였다. 난포의 분포를 200 배율와 400 배율 현미경하에서 평가하였으며 난포를 원시 난포(primordial), 일차 난포(primary), 이행성 난포(transitional), 전동난포(preantral), 동난포(antral)로 분류하여 관찰하였다. 단순 기계적인 방법에 의해 전동난포(preantral follicles)를 분리하여 배양배지가 담긴 96 microliter plates well로 옮겨 배양하였다. 난포의 배양액은 Medium 199에 1% ITS(insulin, transferrin, selenium)를 첨가하고 10% FBS나 10% PVA를 첨가하여 사용하였으며 배양배지위에 mineral oil를 덮고 16일 동안 난포를 배양하였다. 난포의 크기는 4일마다 측정하였다. 0.3세부터 5세까지 고양이 난소의 무게는 0.1g에서 0.3g으로 증가하는 양상을 보이기는 했으나 유의적인 차이가 없었다. 난포의 분포는 고양이의 연령에 관계없이 원시난포의 분포가 그 외 난포들의 분포보다 높게 나타났다(p<0.05). 난포를 4일 이상 배양하였을 때 배양액의 조성성분과 관계없이 난포의 크기가 감소하였으며, 체외 배양된 난포로부터 적은 수의 난자만을 회수할 수 있었다. 많은 수의 원시 난포 등을 분리하기 위한 유용한 난포 분리법과 난포의 배양에 필요한 기타 성분들의 비교 연구가 이루어져야 할 것으로 생각되며 이러한 집 고양이를 이용한 기초 번식 기술은 미래에 멸종위기에 처한 고양이 과 동물을 보존하기 위한 중요한 방법이 될 것으로 기대된다.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.203-209
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• 2002

본 실험은 원시난포의 체외배양 체계를 확립할 수 있는 가능성을 검토하기 위해 10일과 20일령 마우스의 난소에서 분리한 난포를 체외배양하여 난포의 형태변화, 난자의 성장를 및 난자의 핵성숙단계를 조사하여 비교하였다. 그 결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 1. 10일령과 20일령의 마우스에서 분리한 난포는 배양 6일째부터 난포강이 형성되었다. 2. 10일령과 20일령 마우스의 난소에서 분리한 난포의 수는 평균 21.5와 33.3개였고, 배양하기 전에 투명대를 제외한 난자의 직경은 51.85 $mu extrm{m}$와 57.50 $\mu\textrm{m}$였으나, 10 일간 배양한 후 측정한 난자의 직경은 55.95 $\mu\textrm{m}$와 63.11 $\mu\textrm{m}$로 증가하였다. 3. 10일령과 20일령에서 M II까지 핵이 성숙된 난자는 각각 4.3%와 22.1%였고. GVBD기 이상은 각각 14.5%와 61.1%였다.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• 제46권4호
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• pp.152-165
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• 2019

Objective: This study aimed to examine the effect of vitrification on apoptosis and survival in human preantral follicles after thawing. Methods: This experimental study was conducted at an acute tertiary care hospital from March 2012 to April 2013. Ovaries were sliced into 5 × 5 × 1-mm pieces and divided into the following three groups: preantral follicle isolation, ovarian tissue vitrification-warming followed by follicle isolation, and immunohistochemistry of fresh ovarian tissue. For statistical analyses, the Student t-test, chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were used. Results: A total of 161 preantral follicles (70% secondary) were collected from ovarian cortex tissue of six women between 30 and 37 years of age who underwent oophorectomy due to cervical cancer or breast cancer. There were no significant differences in the follicular morphology of fresh preantral follicles and vitrified follicles after thawing. The mean Fas ligand (FasL) mRNA expression level was 0.43 ± 0.20 (relative to β-actin) in fresh preantral follicles versus 0.51 ± 0.20 in vitrified follicles (p= 0.22). The mean caspase-3 mRNA expression level in fresh preantral follicles was 0.56 ± 0.49 vs. 0.27 ± 0.21 in vitrified follicles (p= 0.233). One vitrified-thawed secondary follicle grew and developed to an antral follicle within 6 days of culture. Conclusion: Vitrification did not affect preantral follicle morphology or mRNA expression of the apoptosis markers FasL and caspase-3. Further studies are required to establish whether vitrification affects the outcomes of in vitro culture and the maturation of preantral follicles.

• 한국수정란이식학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국수정란이식학회 2002년도 국제심포지엄
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• pp.84-84
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• 2002

The advantages of the OPS techniques(Vajta G et al, Mol Reprod Dev 51: 53-58,1998) give 1) high survival rates of various types of eggs, 2) quick and simple process, 3) inexpensive equipment and reduced chilling injury. The efficiency of IVM/IVF technique in the porcine species is relatively lower than that obtained in other species such as ruminants. Two experiments were designed to investigate the effects of in-vitro fertilization of porcine oocytes matures using different OPS protocol for chilling and warming of vitrification. Porcine oocytes from ovaries collected at abattoir were matured for 44 hours in TCM199 Earle's salt supplemental with pyruvate, pff, L-cysteine, hormones and gentamycin. Oocytes were denuded and fertilized with frozen boar semen by common method. Porcine embryos produced routinely by in-vitro culture system of NCSU23 medium. The vitrification and the warming were conducted by OPS method with the glass micropipette instead of straw vessels and modified the protocol of G.Vajta(1999). In Exp 1, Chilling/Warming:Holding Medium(HM)+EG+DMSO/HM +sucrose Medium(SM) at 39$^{\circ}C$ warm stage. In Exp 2, : PBS+CS+EG+Ficoll+ Trehalose/PBS+Trehalose at 25$^{\circ}C$ stage. Filling, freezing, packing, thawing out and further culturing were performed to follow the basic protocol of G Vajta. During IVM-lVC and post-warming, fertilization parameter and developmental potential were compared to and statistically analysed. It was not significantly different from Exp 1 and Exp 2 but 25$^{\circ}C$ of stage was slightly higher on the morula/blastocyst forming rate and better atmosphere for worker than that at 39$^{\circ}C$ stage.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.36-40
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• 2007

Proteins and lipids not only provide a source of energy to the cell, but also play vital roles in modifying the physical properties and function of the biological membranes. In the present study, we investigated the biochemical constituents, viz. proteins and lipids, in growing oocytes of goat antral follicles during summer and winter seasons. Goat genitalia in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4) were brought to the laboratory within one hour of slaughter under aseptic conditions at $37^{\circ}C$. Oocytes were aspirated from normal small (<3 mm in diameter) and large (>3 mm) follicles and pooled for biochemical estimations. A significant increase in the amount of protein and lipid was observed with the growth of the oocyte. The amount of protein varied non-significantly with the season, while the amount of lipid varied significantly. The amounts of phospholipid, cholesterol, free fatty acid, and triglyceride increased with the growth of the oocyte, but no significant effect of season in these constituents was observed. Lysolecithin, sphingomyelin, and sterols were the polar lipids identified in both oocytes prepared from small follicles (small oocytes) as well as large follicles (large oocytes). In addition, the small oocytes also contained phosphatidyl serine, while large oocytes contained phosphatidyl glycerol phosphate and phosphatidyl inositol. Among non-polar lipids, triglycerides and long chain alcohols appear only in small oocytes and not in large oocytes. Monoglycerides, 1,2-diglycerides, 1,3-diglycerides and o-dialkyl glycerol ethers, fatty acids, fatty acid methyl esters, and wax esters were identified in both small and large oocytes. Information on biochemical composition of growing oocytes is relevant to oocyte and embryo competence, culture and cryopreservation.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.213-223
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• 2021

Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) is routinely used in the in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) cycles to increase the number of retrieved mature oocytes. However, the relationship between repeated COH and ovarian function is still controversial. Therefore, we investigated whether repeated ovarian stimulation affects ovarian aging and function, including follicular development, autophagy, and apoptosis in follicles. Ovarian hyperstimulation in mice was induced by intraperitoneal injection with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Mice subjected to ovarian stimulation once were used as a control group and 10 times as an experimental group. Repeated injections with PMSG and hCG significantly reduced the number of primary follicles compared to a single injection. The number of secondary and antral follicles increased slightly, while the number of corpus luteum increased significantly with repeated injections. On the other hand, repeated injections did not affect apoptosis in follicles associated with follicular atresia. The expression of autophagy-related genes Atg5, Atg12, LC3B, and Beclin1, cell proliferation-related genes mTOR, apoptosis-related genes Fas, and FasL was not significantly different between the two groups. In addition, the expression of the aging-related genes Dnmt1, Dnmt3a, and AMH were also not significantly different. In this study, we demonstrated that repeated ovarian stimulation in mice affects follicular development, but not autophagy, apoptosis, aging in ovary. These results suggest that repetition of COH in the IVF-ET cycle may not result in ovarian aging, such as a decrease in ovarian reserve in adult women.