• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.183-189
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• 1999

A study was conducted to estimate the effects of parity of dam, sex, year and season of birth on gestation length and birth weight in Korean native and Yanbian yellow cows. A total of 1,206 reproduction records (587 Korean native cows, 619 Yanbian yellow cows) were collected from Daekwamyeong Branch Institute, National Livestock Research Institute in Korea and Yanbian region in China from 1995 to 1998. The least square means for gestation length and birth weight of Korean native cows and Yanbian yellow cows were 287.3$\pm$0.60 and 282.3$\pm$0.80 days, 24.9$\pm$0.25 and 25.2$\pm$0.24kg, respectively. Gestation length and birth weight were increased significantly as parity of dam progressed in Korean native cow(p＜0.01), but were not significant in Yanbian yellow cow. Birth weight of male calf was heavier than that of female calf in Korean native cow and Yanbian yellow cow(p＜0.01). Gestation length of Korean native cow born male calf was longer than that of Korean native cow born female calf(p＜0.01), but was not significant in Yanbian yellow cow. Effect of birth year on birth weight was significant in Korean native cow and Yanbian yellow cow(p＜0.01), but effect of birth year on gestation length was not significant. Birth weight of spring-born calf was the heaviest and that of fall-born calf was the smallest in Korean native cow and Yanbian yellow cow(p＜0.01).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.1080-1088
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• 2010

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary energy levels of gestating gilts on physiological parameters and reproductive performance for primiparous sows. A total of 40 F1 gilts (Large White${\times}$Landrace) were allocated to 4 treatments using a completely randomized design (CRD). Four different experimental diets contained 3,165, 3,265 3,365 and 3,465 kcal of ME/kg and each diet was provided to gilts at 2.0 kg/d during gestation. Consequently, energy intake of each treatment of gestating gilts was 6,330, 6,530, 6,730 and 6,930 kcal ME/kg, respectively. During the whole gestation period, body weight, fat mass gain and backfat thickness of gilts were increased in proportion to dietary energy levels (p<0.01). However, estimated protein mass gain of gilts was not affected by dietary energy level (p>0.10). At farrowing, the total number of pigs born per litter did not show any significant difference among treatments. However, the number of pigs born alive per litter in treatment 6,730 kcal ME/d was significantly higher than that of other treatments (p<0.05). Moreover, litter weight at birth was improved as dietary energy level was increased (p<0.05). Feed intake of sows during lactation tended to decrease as dietary energy level of gestation was increased, but litter weight gain was not affected by dietary treatment during the gestation period. Fat content in colostrum was higher as dietary energy level was increased during gestation. The concentration of blood estradiol-$17{\beta}$ was increased and was higher at the first trimester of gestation in 6,730 kcal ME/d treatment compared to other treatments. These results suggested that increased dietary energy level during gestation resulted in higher body weight and backfat thickness of sows. In addition, reproductive performance of the sow, such as litter weight at farrowing and the number of pigs born alive, was improved when 6,730 kcal of ME/d treatment diet was provided. Consequently, the NRC (1998) recommendation of energy for gestating gilts (6,015 to 6,150 kcal of ME/d) should be reevaluated to maximize reproductive performance because recent high-producing sows require much more energy to produce a large litter size and heavier piglets from the first parity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.142-148
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• 2016

The present study investigated the effects of back-fat thickness at d 107 of gestation and housing types during gestation on reproductive performance and behavior of sows. A total of 64 crossbred sows ($Landrace{\times}Yorkshire$) in their 3 to 4 parities were allotted to one of four treatments (n = 16) over two consecutive parities. During each parity, sows were assigned to two gestational housing types (stall or group housing) and two level of back-fat thickness (<20 or ${\geq}20$) at d 107 of gestation. Gestating sows were transferred from gestational crates to stalls or pens (group housing) 5 weeks before farrowing. All sows were moved to farrowing crates on d 109 of gestation. At weaning, back-fat thickness changes were lesser (p<0.05) in sows having back-fat thickness <20 mm than that of sows with ${\geq}20mm$ back-fat thickness at 107 d of gestation. Group housed sows had greater (p<0.05) feed intake and shorter (p<0.05) weaning-to-estrus interval than that of sows in stalls. At weaning, back-fat thickness changes were lesser (p<0.05) in group housed sows than that of sows in stalls. The number of piglets at weaning, growth rate and average daily gain were greater (p<0.05) in group housed sows than that of sows in stalls. During gestation, walking duration was more (p<0.05) in group housed sows. Group housed sows had lesser (p<0.05) farrowing duration and greater (p<0.05) eating time than that of sows in stalls. Result obtained in present study indicated that sows with ${\geq}20mm$ back-fat thickness at 107 days had better reproductive performance. Additionally, group housing of sows during last five week of gestation improved the performance and behavior and reproductive efficiency of sows.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.135-144
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• 2024

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of feeding frequency on a sow's reproductive performance and stress response during gestation. A total of twenty multiparous sows (Yorkshire × Landrace) were used in a completely randomized design based on their parity, body weight (BW), and backfat thickness (BFT), and the sows were allotted to two different feeding systems: 1) once daily feeding (OF) and 2) twice daily feeding (TF) in corn-soybean meal based diets. The gestation diet was formulated to contain 3,265 kcal of metabolizable energy (ME) / kg, 12.90% of crude protein (CP), and 0.75 % of total lysine. The lactation diet was formulated to contain 3,265 kcal of ME / kg, 16.80% of CP, and 1.08% of total lysine and provided ad libitum during lactation. In gestation, sow BFT and BF changes were not affected by feeding frequency, but higher BW and BW gain from day 35 to 90 and day 35 to 110 were observed in OF sow (p < 0.10). In lactation, feeding frequency did not influence on BW, BW gain, BFT, BF changes, average daily feed intake, and wean-to-estrus interval. Also, there were no differences in litter size, litter weight and piglet weight in lactating sows. OF sows had higher (p < 0.05; p < 0.10) protein, solid-not-fat, and total solid concentrations in colostrum compared to TF sows, while OF sows had a lower (p < 0.05) lactose concentration in colostrum compared to TF sows. Sows in OF showed significantly lower average daily water consumption (ADWC) from day 35 to 110 of gestation (p < 0.05). While there were no significant differences in stereotypic behaviors and salivary cortisol levels during gestation between treatments, the OF sows showed less time spending on the activity at day 105 (p < 0.05). In conclusion, reduced feeding frequency increased BW gain during gestation, decreased activation time, and changed the colostrum composition. This information may contribute to the understanding of the physiological and behavioral change of gestating sows by manipulating feeding frequency.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.181-187
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• 2003

Effects of repeated treatment with butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) on the induction of glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) and teratogenicity of cyclophosphamide were investigated in rats. Pregnant rats were orally treated with BHA (50 mg/kg) for 7 days, from days 6 to 12 of gestation, and intraperitoneally challenged with cyclophosphamide (15 mg/kg) 2 hr after the final treatment. On day 20 of gestation, the maternal and fetal abnormalities were examined. Separately, a part of rats was sacrificed for the assay of hepatic and placental GSTs activities on day 12 of gestation following 7-day treatment with BHA. Cyclophosphamide, administered on day 12 of gestation, induced 43.2% of fetal death and resorption, and 100% of malformations in live fetuses, in contrast to low fetal resorption (8.7%) and malformations (8%) in control group. The malformations include cranial defect and exencephaly (100%), micrognathia and tongue extrusion (100%), limb defects (40%), renal pelvic dilatation (39%), and cleft palate (15%). Interestingly, BHA induced GSTs activities by 62% and 46% over the control in liver and placenta, respectively, and remarkably reduced the fetal resorption (13.9%) and malformations, resulting in 62% of cranial defect and exencephaly, 68% of micrognathia and tongue extrusion, 29% of limb defects, and 14% of renal pelvic dilatation. Taken together, it is suggested that a long-term pretreatment with BHA could substantially prevent fetuses from abortion and malformations following intrauterine exposure to teratogens including cyclophosphamide by inducing phase II antioxidant enzymes such as GSTs.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.181-185
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• 2019

The traditional calculation of gestation length (GL) in Holstein cows relies solely on the insemination day and has a high error rate for actual calving dates. The present study was conducted to develop a more accurate method of estimating GL. Among 3,578 Holstein cows, the number of fetuses had a significant (p < 0.05) effect, with GLs of 282.4 ± 2.5 days for singletons and 276.0 ± 1.6 days for twins. Within the singleton group, the GLs were 284.6 ± 1.9 days for males and 280.3 ± 1.5 days for females, a significant difference (p < 0.05). However, within the twin group, there was no difference in GLs among twin males, twin females, or twins of both sexes. Gestation was significantly shorter for singleton males born from June to August but significantly longer for twin males born in the May to June period (p < 0.05). Neither parity nor housing type was associated with any significant difference in GL. In order to predict the calving dates of Holstein cows accurately and improve their management, calculations should consider the number and sex of fetuses as well as the insemination season.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2006

Development of placenta is a complex process that is critical for the pregnancy and controlled by many factors including cytokines, hormones, growth factors and apoptotic molecules. Recently, it has been shown that progranulin (PGRN) functions in growth of embryo and trophectoderm as well as cell migration. To initiate understanding the role of PGRN in human placental development, we investigated the expression of PGRN mRNA and protein in early and late gestation human placentas, term cytotrophoblast cells and two choriocarcinoma cell lines, JEG-3 and Jar. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction identified mRNAs derived from the PGRN gene in all samples. Immunoblot analysis showed that PGRN proteins are present in early and late gestation human placentas with decreasing levels over gestation and that PGRN proteins are present in normal and transformed trophoblast cells. Immunohistochemical analysis using paraformaldehyde-fixed tissue sections taken from early and late stages of pregnancy showed that PGRN proteins are present in cytotrophoblast cells, syncytiotrophoblast and extravillous cytotrophoblast cells and that expression pattern of PGRN differed according to the stage of cell differentiation. The results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that PGRN proteins have critical roles in placental development and suggest that PGRN may function in trophoblast cell growth and differentiation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.1098-1102
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• 2002

A set of 313,169 reproduction records of Japanese Black cows calving between 1987 and 1996 were collected in nation widely Japan to investigate the current level of reproductive performances and the factors influencing the performances such as calving interval, first calving age, services per conception, calving difficulty, non-gestation period and gestation length. All the records of reproductive performances are outcome of artificial insemination. The means of first calving age, calving interval, non-gestation period and gestation length were 25.0 months, 389.9, 101.9 and 287.5 days, respectively. Services per conception were 1.41 and degree of calving difficulty was 1.07, which suggests most of the calving, did not need assistance. There were chronological tendencies that first calving age became younger while calving interval became longer. Differences in reproductive performance were found for seasons and calving numbers. Calving interval became shorter towards the fourth calving but became longer afterwards. The cows calving in May had the shortest calving interval followed by those in April and June and first calving age had a similar tendency. The cows with the standard body condition score showed more favourable reproductive performances compare with those with rather fatty or thin body condition scores.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.206-212
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• 1996

This study was to see if pregnant rats fed a pantothenic acid(PA) deficient diet for whole 3 weeks gestation would produce pups comparable to the normal controls, at the cost of maternal tissue PA concentration ([PA]) or coenzyme A content ([Co A]). Compared to the controls, dams fed a PA deficient diet tended to decrease weight gain, and produced pups with lower body, liver and brain weight (p<0.05). Postpartum dam's blood [PA] decreased more in PA deficient group than control (p<0.05, PA deficient : 2.52$\pm$0.66 to 0.77$\pm$0.23uM, control : 2.58$\pm$0.52 to 1.45$\pm$0.68uM), although Hb concentration did not differ between two groups. Pup's blood [PA] at birth was lower in PA deficient group than control group(1.75$\pm$0.27uM vs. 3.90$\pm$0.76uM, respectively, p<0.05) and 2-3 times that of postpartum dams in both two groups. [Co A] and [PA] in pup's tissues were 23-68% of dams in both groups, in spite of the higher [PA] in pups. These data suggest that Co A metabolism differs between pups and dams ; the pups were more adversely affected than dams by the dietary PA deficiency of dams during gestation.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 1985

In this study, the pathway and date of migrating Primordial germ cells (PGCs) were observed light microscopically and ultrastructural changes of them during migration were observed by electron microscopic examination. For these purpose, alkaline phosphatase reactions were used for identifying the PGCs and acid phosphatase reactions were used for observing their degenerating activities. Also, effects of actinomycin D on the migration of PGCs were examined. According to these results, at the 9th gestation day, PGCs were observed in the endodermal cells of yolk sac, at the 11th gestation day, they were seen in the hindgut and then entered into the dorsal mesentery by the 13th gestation day. At the 14th gestation day, they were located in the genital ridges. When PGCs were located in the hindgut and genital ridges, the positive reactions of alkaline phosphatase were dominated, but acid phosphatase reactions were limited in all stage except they were in dorsal mesentery. However, these reactions were lessened in case of actinomycin D treatment. By electron microscopic examination, PGCs had pseudopodia, tail process, trailing cytoplasm and nuage as the ultrastructural characteristics. In addition, these morphological features were damaged by actinomycin D treatment.