• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.45-55
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• 1990

The in-vitro fertilization in human clinic and animal reproduction is a very important technique but the rate of success is still low. When the in-vitro fertilization and culture of gametes or embryos were done under the condition which Hema hydrogel chamber were implanted into the peritoneal cavity of mouse, the in-vitro fertilization and development of embryos could be significantly improved and the cell-block under in-vitro culture could be overcome. Also, the Rema hydrogel chamber was very useful for the protection of isolated blastomeres. It is concluded that the polymerized Hema (pHema) hydrogel chamber may be effectively used in the fields of embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.355-360
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• 1990

Single nuclei from two-, four- and eight-cell mouse embryos were transplanted into enucleated two-cell embryos by micromanipulation and Sendai virus mediated fusion. The developmental potential of these reconstituted embryos in vitro and in vivo was examined. It was found that the single nuclei which were transplanted to enucleated two-cell embryos were not only able to develop to the blastocyst stage in vitro(two-cell nuclei, 76.5%; four-cell nuclei, 68.4%; eight-cell nuclei, 48.3%), but also able to develop to full term in vivo after transfer to recipient mice(two-cell nuclei, 37.1%; four-cell nuclei, 29.6%; eight-cell nuclei, 16.3%). Although the proportion of live young produced after transfer of nucler of nuclear transplant embryos which received eight-cell nuclei was significantly (p<0.05) reduced, it would be suggested that the overall efficiency in producing identical offspring is greater when eight-cell embryos were selected for nuclear donor than two- or four-cell embryos were selected.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.209-218
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• 2004

To investigate the feasibility of embryo transfer technology to promote productivity of cattle, 36 cows(18 Holstein, 18 Hanwoo) were superovulated. Fresh embryos were transferred to 25 recipients(14 Holstein, 11 Hanwoo), whereas frozen embryos were transferred to 17 recipients(10 Holstein, 7 Hanwoo). Two embryos were transferred at a time to 13 recipients(9 Holstein, 4 Hanwoo) to produce twin calves. 1. 75.0％ of donor cattle were reacted to hormonal treatment far superovulation. 2. The rate of embryo recovery by non-surgical method for Holstein and Hanwoo was 90.4 and 95.8％ in comparison with numbers of corpus luteum. 3. Of all the ova collected non-surgically, the rate of viable blastocyst was 66.4％ and the rate of transferrable blastocysts was 48.6％. 4. The rate of embryo collection by one-catheter method was 75.0％. 5. The rate of pregnancy/delivery following embryo transfer with fresh embryos was 60.0％. 6. The rate of pregnancy/delivery following embryo transfer with frozen embryos was 35.3％. 7. In embryo transfer to produce twin calves, the rate of pregnancy/delivery was 28.6％ with fresh embryos and 16.7％ with frozen embryos.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.283-287
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• 2014

Sexed semen is commonly used for the production of calves of the desired gender. Gender selection is important in animal production industries. For example, female cattle are required for the dairy industry while males are preferred in the beef cattle industry. The present study was to assess the in vivo embryo production efficiency using the semen separated according to sex during superovulation in Hanwoo. Seventy Hanwoo donor cows were flushed on day 7 of estrus cycle with same FSH and artificial insemination by the same technicians. Embryos were recovered on 7 days after the third insemination by flushing the uterus with embryo collection medium. KPN semen straws used artificial insemination contained 20 million sperm (total number 60 million per donor). Sex-sorted semen straws contained 4 million sperm (total number 12 million per donor). The results obtained were as follows: No differences were observed in the efficiency of superovulation rates on KPN semen 87%, and sexed semen 100%, respectively. The mean numbers of total embryos are each $12.58{\pm}8.31$ and $13.25{\pm}7.86$. The mean numbers of transferable embryos, sexed semen were significantly lower than KPN semen ($3.75{\pm}1.98$ vs. $8.23{\pm}6.07$, P<0.05). The rates of unfertilized embryos from superovulation using sexed semen were significantly higher than KPN semen (50% vs. 15%, P<0.05). The rate of degenerated 2-cell embryos from sexed and KPN semen was 60.87% and 11.11%, respectively (p<0.05). In conclusion, these results indicate that superovulation using sexed semen was useful, but efficient embryo production was important to reducing the damage caused by the Flowcytometer-based sperm sorting procedure.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.585-592
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• 2017

Objective: The present study investigates pre- and post-implantation developmental competence of nuclear-transferred porcine embryos derived from male and female fetal fibroblasts. Methods: Male and female fetal fibroblasts were transferred to in vitro-matured enucleated oocytes and in vitro and in vivo developmental competence of reconstructed embryos was investigated. And, a total of 6,789 female fibroblast nuclear-transferred embryos were surgically transferred into 41 surrogate gilts and 4,746 male fibroblast nuclear-transferred embryos were surgically transferred into 25 surrogate gilts. Results: The competence to develop into blastocysts was not significantly different between the sexes. The mean cell number of female and male cloned blastocysts obtained by in vivo culture ($143.8{\pm}10.5$ to $159.2{\pm}14.8$) was higher than that of in vitro culture of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) groups ($31.4{\pm}8.3$ to $33.4{\pm}11.1$). After embryo transfer, 5 pregnant gilts from each treatment delivered 15 female and 22 male piglets. The average birth weight of the cloned piglets, gestation length, and the postnatal survival rates were not significantly different (p<0.05) between sexes. Conclusion: The present study found that the sex difference of the nuclear donor does not affect the developmental rate of porcine SCNT embryos. Furthermore, postnatal survivability of the cloned piglets was not affected by the sex of the donor cell.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.121-128
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• 2000

This study was conducted to enhance the efficiency of embryo transfer and embryos produced in vitro according to select good quality blastocyst among in vivo or in vitro produced embryos. After middle blastocys(MB) and late blastocyst(LB) stages embryos that developed in vitro for 7∼8 days were treated hypertonic solution(380 mOsm or 600 mOsm) and the rate of development to hatched blastocyst(HB) was examined. The results obtained were summarized as follows: The proportion of embryos developed to HB was higher than that of control regardless of hypertonic solution treatment. However, it was related to culture time in hypertonic solution The propotrion of embryos developed to HB of morphologically recovered embryos in 380 nOsm solution ws higher than that of morphologically shrinked embryos. However, treatment time was not significantly different the rates of HB development. Especially, the proportion of embryos developed to HB of morphologically recovered embryos of the 30-min-treated group was significantly higher than that of control (p<0.05). The results suggest that hypertonic solution treatment should enhance the efficiency for criterion of transferable blastocyst quality.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of hormonal treatments on corpus lutea, follicles and development stage of embryos for enhancing the production efficiency of in vivo porcine embryos suitable to introduce fo foreign genes. Hundred and twenty gilts were allocated to 6 experimental group in different combinations of hormones PG 600, PMSG, hCG and altrenogest. When gilts were treated with chorionic gonadotrophin 200 IU and serum gonadotrophin 200 IU(PG 600), altrenogest, serum gonadotrophin (PMSG) 1,000 IU, and chorionic gonadotrophin(hCG) 750 IU (PAPh), the numbers of corpus luteum (30.4) were significantly higher than those of other treatment groups (P<0.05). The number of corpus luteum from ovary in either right (9.1) or left (10.1) side was not significantly changed with hormone treatments. Number of follicles in control was 20.7, which was higher than those of hormonal treatment groups. The average numbers of 1, 2, 4 and 8 cell staged embryos were 8.1, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.0 in control, but the numbers of 1-cell stage in PAPh treatment group was 24.2, which was significantly higher than those of treatment groups (P<0.05). Therefore, these data indicated that hormonal treatment, especially PAPh, enhanced the developments of follicles, corpus lutea and embryos and increased the collection rate of the 1-cell stage embryos to introduce of foreign genes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.520-524
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• 1999

The present experiments were designed to examine whether exogenous DNA injected into the germinal crescent region (GCR) of early stage of developing embryos, which is considered to be the main place from which PGCs originate, can be transferred to recipient chicken embryos. In this experiment, Miw Z (DNA) dissolved in the transfection reagent (TR: Boehringer, Germany) was introduced into the GCR of donor embryos at stage 3-5 or 9-11, followed by continued incubation until the stage 13-15 of embryonic development. The PGCs collected from the embryonic blood vessels were examined for the incorporation of the injected DNA into the PGCs by the methods of X-gal staining and PCR analysis. As the results, the foreign DNA was successfully incorporated into the PGCS, leading to their transfer to the gonadal tissues. The present results, therefore, suggest that the early stage (3-5 or 9-11) of chicken embryonic development would be more successful than stage 13-15 in transferring exogenous genes to the recipient embryos, leading to the possibility of producing transgenic chicken medianting the PGCS.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2007

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of cytochalasin B (CB) treatment in the activation medium on the development of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) rat embryos. Fetal fibroblast cells were isolated from a Day 14.5 fetus, and the oocytes for recipient cytoplasm were recovered from 4-week old Sprague Dawley rats. After enucleation and nuclear injection, the reconstructed oocytes were immediately exposed to activation medium consisting of 10 mM $SrCl_2$ with or without CB for 4 hr, and formation of pseudo-pronucleus (PPN) was checked at 18 hr after activation. Then, they were transferred into day 1 pseudopregnant recipients (Hooded Wistar) or cultured for 5 days to check their developmental competence in vivo or in vitro. The number of PPN was not affected by CB treatment during the activation. However, CB treatment supported pre-implantation development of rat SCNT embryos. Embryos generated by the procedures of SCNT were also capable of implanting, with 1 implantation scar found from a recipient following the transfer of 87 SCNT embryos to four foster mothers. The result of the present study shows that rat SCNT embryo can develop to post-implantation stage following treatment with CB.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.159-164
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• 2011

This study was performed in order to determine optimum flushing solution using the direct embryo collection (DEC). Donors, at random stages of the estrous cycle, received a CIDR. 7 days later, 200 mg FSH was treated with 40, 30, 20, 10 mg FSH levels in declining doses twice daily by intramuscular injection for 4 days. On the 3$^{rd}$ day administration of FSH, 25 mg $PGF_2{\alpha}$ was administered and CIDR was withdrawn. After FSH injections were complete, donors were artificially inseminated twice at 12 hr intervals. The donor cattle received 250 ${\mu}g$ GnRH at time of 1$^{st}$ insemination and embryos were recovered 8 days after the 1$^{st}$ insemination. Embryo collection from superovulated donors were performed to flushing by DEC and conventional method. As a results, the average number of recovered embryos were significantly higher as 19.1${\pm}$1.40 with DEC method than 12.0${\pm}$0.44 with conventional embryo collection method, respectively (p<0.05). Also, The average number of transferable embryos were significantly higher (p<0.05) as 15.8${\pm}$1.72 with DEC method than 6.9${\pm}$0.35 from conventional embryo recovery procedures. Meanwhile, number of recovered embryos and number of recovered transferable embryos following the number of flushing times until 6${dr}$ flushing were significantly higher as 8.6${\pm}$0.53 and 8.6${\pm}$0.53 from 2$^{nd}$ flushing time than other groups (p<0.05). No. of Ear. B stage embryos were significantly higher as 3.9${\pm}$0.90 and 3.9${\pm}$0.90 with 2$^{nd}$ flushing time in total collected embryos and transferable embryos (p<0.05). Com M stage embryos were significantly higher as 3.7${\pm}$1.00 in 2$^{nd}$ flushing time and as 2.2${\pm}$0.76 in 3$^{rd}$ flushing time for recovered embryos (p<0.05). In transferable embryos, Com. M stage embryos were significantly higher (p<0.05) as 3.7${\pm}$1.00 in 2$^{nd}$ flushing time and as 2.2${\pm}$0.76 in 34$^{dr}$ flushing time, also. No. of degradation embryos was significantly higher as 2.2${\pm}$0.72 in 5${rd}$ flushing time, On the other hand, degradation embryos was not observed in transferable embryos (p<0.05). In conclusion, these results suggest that DEC method should effective methods for production of in vivo embryos using less flushing solution following perform until 4$^{rd}$ flushing time than conventional embryo collecting method. Also, it might be effectively collection of transferable embryos following more less procedure times compared to conventional embryo recovery methods.