• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 1985

The present study was carried out to determine sex hormone levels in serum throughout estrous cycle in Korean native goats. LH, FSH, prolactin, estradiol-$17{\beta}$ and progesterone in serum analyzed every 2 days from the estrus (day 0) to the 20th day of estrous cycle by the radioimmunoassay. The concentration of serum LH was high level with 3.27 mIU/ml on the day of estrus, then decreased rapidly to l.05~1.73 mIU/ml from the day 2 of estrous cycle to the day 18. A similar tendency was observed in the prolactin concentration, however the ranges of variation were not so marked as those of LH concentration. FSH concentrations determined were below 1.25 mIU/ml in all observation time. The concentration of serum estradiol-$17{\beta}$ was the highest, 23.62 pg/ml on the day of estrus, but the levels of 4.56~9.75 pg/ml were maintained during the other days of estrous cycle. Progesterone concentrations were the lowest, 0.45 ng/ml on the day of estrus and thereafter increased gradually to 8.85 ng/ml on the day 14 of estrous cycle, then decreased again. Serum LH concentrations before and after estrus maintained high levels during the 12 hours, i. e., 6 hours before and 6 hours after estrus. The concentrations of FSH were below 1.25 mIU/ml during the observation period. Prolactin concentrations were observed high levels during 24 hours, i.e., 12 hours before and 12 hours after estrus. Estradiol-$17{\beta}$ concentrations before and after estrus maintained high levels during the 24 hours, i.e., 12 hours before and 12 hours after estrus. The tendency of changes in progesterone concentrations were contrary to that of estradiol-$17{\beta}$.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.917-924
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• 1997

Estrus cycle of cow, season and follicldar stimulating treatment, having an effect on the number of follicle, are investigated for the oocyte recovery rate in ovum pick-up(OPU). The number of follicle aspirated and oocyte collected on the different days of estrus cycle(D 4~5, D 9~10 and D 14~15) were not significantly different among the groups. The higher number of viable oocytes were produced on Jan-May(79.0%) than Jun-Aug(33.3%) by OPU in cow. The number of follicle and aspirated oocyte in cows treated FSH or PMSG combined with bovine somatotropin(bST) were 1.2~1.5 times higher than in cows treated alone follicular stimulating hormone(FSH) or pregnant mare serum gonadotropin(PMSG). In conclusion, OPU can be repeatedly practiced 2 or 3 times in an estrus cycle. In addition, the high environmental temperature is not good for ovarian function of cow and the bST co-treatment with FSH or PMSG is increasing the number of aspiratable follicle.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.103-110
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• 1997

The present study was carried out to investigate effects of gonadotropin, age of donor, day of estrus cycle gonadotropin injection started and season on embryo production after superovulation in dairy cattles. Embryo collection records were obtained from 177 embryo donor collections from 98 Holstein cows aged from 3 to 9 years during 4 years(1993~1996) at National Livestock Re-search Institute. Superovulation was induced by injections of 3 gonadotropins(FSH-P, FOLLTROPHIN-v* or SUPER-OV*) beginning on days 9 to 14 of the estrus cycle. Em-bryos were collected from donors using a nonsurgical technique on days 6 to 8 after insemi-nation. The results were as follows ;Number of total and freezable embryos per donor cow was affected by gonadotropin(P<0.01). The more number of total and freezable embryos wereobtained by use of FOLLTROPHIN-V (13.2, 7.4) or FSH-P (11.0, 5.7) than SUPER-OV* (5.0, 2.4). Age of donor, the day that gonadotropin was started or season didn't affect total or freezable embryos(P >0.05).

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to examine the estrus synchronization and superovulation of pigs with hormone treatments. Three different kinds of procedures for synchronization and superovulation were used as follow: I) gilts in natural estrus behavior (control): 2) gilts synchronized with 20mg altrenogest for 9 days regardless of the estrus cycle; 3) gilts received PG600 (400IU PMSG + 200 IU hCG) in 15 day of the estrus cycle; and then gilts administrated with PMSG (1,500 IU) and hCG (750 IU) after altrenogest and PG600 treatment for superovulation. Estrus was checked daily with a boar, in estrus synchronization, the intervals from hormone treatment to estrus were different between PG600 (43/47) and altrenogest (13/53) within 6 days. The percentage of animals displaying a estrus response were not different by hormone treatments. The average number of corpora lutea (C.L) and ovulated embryos were similar between PG600 25.4${\pm}$13.1, 19.0$\pm$12.8 and altrenogest 25.5${\pm}$0.7, 15.0${\pm}$4.2, respectively, but was increased (P<0.05) by hormone treatment compared to that 12.9${\pm}$1.8, 12.7${\pm}$3.9 in the control. The number of normal embryos after ovulation was higher in the control than hormone treatment. Therefore, these results suggest that altrenogest and PG600 treatment could be a valuable for cut down the labour and cost by synchronization.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2013

Embryos formed in vivo were collected from 171 donors housed in Chung Cheong Buk-Do Institute of Livestock and Veterinary Research of the Chungbuk community during the years 2009~2012. We evaluated annual embryo collection, effect of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), controlled internal drug release (CIDR) and prostaglandin (PG) administration to the donor for superovulation and controlling the estrus cycle, seasonal effects of embryo collection and compared the number of embryos recovered as per the collection days and pregnancy rate. In all, 1,243 embryos were collected from 118 donors with an average of $7.31{\pm}5.35$ embryos per donor, out of which 69.4% were transferable. Dosages of FSH required for inducing superovulation in various donors were compared. Average number of embryos collected from donors administered with 30 AU of FSH ($7.13{\pm}5.74$ per donor) was not significantly different from that of donors who were given an injection of 24 AU of FSH ($7.53{\pm}4.91$ per donor). However, the percentage of transferable embryos in the 30AU FSH-administered group (63.2 %, 449 of 711) was higher than that in the 24AU FSH-administered group (77.8%, 414 of 532). In the group of donors under a natural estrus cycle, the FSH dose administered did not influence the number of transferable embryos produced ($7.49{\pm}6.25$ per donor for 30 AU of FSH vs $7.49{\pm}4.92$ per donor for 24 AU of FSH). However, in donors administered with CIDR and PG for controlling the estrus cycle, the FSH dose affected the average number of transferable embryos collected ($4.25{\pm}2.87$ per donor for 30 AU of FSH vs $8.50{\pm}6.36$ per donor for 24 AU of FSH). We collected embryos from donors 6, 7 or 8 days after artificial insemination (AI). Results showed that the percentage of transferable embryos among those collected 8 days after AI was significantly higher than that among embryos collected 6 or 7 days after AI. Seasonal variations did not affect number of recovered embryos and pregnancy rates in natural estrus cycle and CIDR treatment groups (48.28% and 42.55%) but higher than pregnancy rate of frozen embryos (19.63%). These results indicated that administration of FSH beyond a threshold dose (at least 24 AU) has no beneficial effect on the production embryos and that collection of embryos 7~8 days after AI is optimal for embryo recovery. CIDR treatment induced superovulation in short term and had no influence on the natural estrus cycle. Finally, although good-quality embryos were transferred, freezing significantly reduced the pregnancy rates after transfer.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.759-766
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• 2023

Visual estrus observation can only be confirmed at a rate of 50%-60%, which is lower than that obtained using a biosensor. Thus, the use of biosensors provides more opportunities for artificial insemination because it is easier to confirm estrus than by visual observation. This study determines the accuracy of estrus prediction using a ruminoreticular biosensor by analyzing ruminoreticular temperature during the estrus cycle and measuring changes in body activity. One hundred and twenty-five Hanwoo cows (64 with a ruminal biosensor in the test group and 61 without biosensors in the control group) were studied. Ruminoreticular temperatures and body activities were measured every 10 min. The first service of artificial insemination used gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-based fixed-time artificial insemination protocol in the control and test groups. The test group received artificial insemination based on the estrus prediction made by the biosensor, and the control group received artificial insemination according to visual estrus observation. Before artificial insemination, the ruminoreticular temperature was maintained at an average of 38.95 ± 0.05℃ for 13 h (-21 to -9 h), 0.73℃ higher than the average temperature observed at -48 h (38.22 ± 0.06℃). The body activity, measured using an indwelling 3-axis accelerometer, averaged 1502.57 ± 27.35 for approximately 21 h from -4 to -24 h before artificial insemination, showing 203 indexes higher body activity than -48 hours (1299 ± 9.72). Therefore, using an information and communication techonology (ICT)-based biosensor is highly effective because it can reduce the reproductive cost of a farm by accurately detecting estrus and increasing the rate of estrus confirmation in cattle.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.61-68
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• 2018

The major focus of this study is to analyze the expression of bovine MMPs and to monitor their activity during the estrus cycle and pregnancy. During pregnancy, MMP-2 expression was detectable around 30 days but became insignificant by 60 days, then started to increase again around 90 days and reached the maximum at 250 days. The activity of MMP-2 protein changed in accordance with its expression level. As expected, the level of TIMP-2 exhibited a reverse pattern. About MMP-9, high level expression was observed as early as 30 days and gradually increase until 90 days. Then started to decrease after 250 days. Again, the sites of MMP-9 expression were similar to those of MMP-2. On the other hand, expression of TIMP-3 remained low until 90 days but showed a small and temporal increase around 250 days. In summary, expression of different MMPs were differentially regulated during estrus cycle and pregnancy. While the expression of MMP-2 was high in estrus cycle, MMP-9 slowly takes over with the progression of pregnancy. These results indicated that the luteal tissue perform distinct functions during pregnancy and estrus. Perhaps the activity of MMP-2 is required for the structural remodeling of luteum, resulting the suppression of P4 inflow from blood. On the other hand, steady maintenance of MMP-9 throughout luteal development is important for the activation of cell proliferation, maturation and angiogenesis.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.719-729
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• 1996

To investigate changes of estrus signs and genital organs in the bitch by hormonal induction of estrus, fourteen bitches of nulliparous and multiparous(2nd-5th) were grouped into diestrus and anestrus according to their estrus cycle. The hormonal treatments were divided into four groups: group A($PGF_2{\alpha}+PMSG+hCG$) and group B(PMSG+hCG) in diestrus bitches and group C(GnRH+FSH+hCG) and group D(PMSG+hCG) in anestrus bitches. The external signs of proestrus and estrus as well as the vaginal smear findings and natural breeding as estrus detection were investigated in all the experimental groups. Also, genital organs were examined at two months after the hormone treatment. The bitches in anestrus showed 100% of male attraction, vaginal bleeding and vulvar swelling as proestrus signs after the hormonal treatment for estrus induction and they showed higher numerical value of signs than the bitches in diestrus. The group A showed the lowest value in proestrous signs of all the groups. The bitches in anestrus treated with GnRH+FSH showed 100% of positive estrus by vaginal smear findings and 75% of natural breeding as estrus detection index and these values were the highest of all the groups. Pregnancy was recognized in only group C and the conception rate was 7.14% in al the experimental animals. Of the side effects after the hormone treatment, external findings of continous male attraction, continous external swelling and purulent exudate were recognized in all the experimental groups and the bitches in diestrus showed higher value of the findings than the bitches in anestrus. Of the changes of genital organs after the hormone treatment, hypertrophy of uterine horn, sanguineous exudate and purulent exudate as uterine findings were recognized in all the groups and these findings were shown more in the bitches in diestrus than in those in anestrus. These results indicated that group C showed the highest value of all the experimental groups in external signs of estrus and estrus detection and also pregnancy was recognized only in that group, consequently, that the hormonal treatment of group C would be the most effective for estrus induction, and also indicated that bitches in anestrus were more suitable than bitches in diestrus for the induction of estrus. In addition, side effects in external genital organs and uteri after hormone treatment were shown more in the bitches in diestrus than in those in anestrus, indicating that bitches in anestrus would be of choice for estrus induction.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2010

To investigate the change of vaginal epithelial cell in estrus-induced Shih-tzu bitch, estrus was induced by PMSG (50 IU/kg, for 10 days) and hCG (1,000 IU, on Day 10) in 12 anestrus Shih-tzu bitches. Day-changes of vaginal epithelial cells during the whole period of hormone treatment were investigated in each experimental bitches. The first day of vulvar bleeding and the first day of male acceptant was on $6.72{\pm}1.38$ days ($Mean{\pm}S.D.$), and $10.44{\pm}1.63$ days after the first PMSG treatment. The duration of proestrus and estrus was $4.36{\pm}1.20$ days, and $7.58{\pm}1.43$ days. Characteristic features of vaginal cytology during the estrous cycle were the high proportion of large intermediate cell, superficial cell, anuclear cell and erythrocyte in proestrus, superficial cell and anuclear cell in estrus, and parabasal cell, small and large intermediate cell, and leukocyte in diestrus, respectively. When it was timed from the first day of PMSG administration (Day 0), the cornification index (CI) was the high proportion in proestrus and estrus. The CI peak was maintained above 80% between Day 11~14 (4 days) and CI showed a peak at Day 12. These results indicated that the 12 Shih-tzu bitches showed positive estrus induction by vaginal smear test and observation of clinical estrus sign.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.919-923
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• 2004

Ultrasonographic study was undertaken to establish the echogenecity and size of reproductive organs of 18 cycling buffaloes of different parities and compared with the sizes measured by palpation per rectum at estrus (day 0), met estrus (day 2), mid diestrus (day 10) and late diestrus (day 16). The overall mean size of cervix, uterine body, right horn, left horn, right ovary and left ovary measured by palpation per rectum were 2.70$\pm$0.43, 2.36$\pm$0.36, 2.17$\pm$0.37, 2.12$\pm$0.38, 2.63$\pm$0.41 and 2.72$\pm$0.37 cm, respectively. The corresponding ultrasonographic observations were 2.10$\pm$0.40, 1.85$\pm$0.30, 1.73$\pm$0.36, 1.64$\pm$0.37, 2.16$\pm$0.36 and 2.29$\pm$0.38 cm respectively. Variations in the size of genitalia due to stages of estrous cycle were non-significant. The size of genitalia measured by palpation per rectum was significantly higher (p<0.05) than by ultrasonography. However, there was linear positive correlation (r=+0.87) in the measurements by the two techniques. The ultrasonographic characteristics of tubular genitalia revealed different echogenic gray shades around the nonechogenic (black) central area of lumen depending upon the stage of cycle. The ovarian stroma appeared as hyperechoic (white) area with nonechogenic (black) follicle. The corpus luteum (CL) exhibited different echogenic texture viz. grayish black, grayish granular and grayish white at met estrus, mid diestrus and late diestrus, respectively. Therefore, ltrasonography can be effectively employed to record the exact size and echotexture of the buffalo genitalia during different stages of estrous cycle.