• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.59 no.12
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• pp.25.1-25.7
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• 2017

Background: Rabbit breeding with high performance imported ones would be of benefit for genetic diversity and improvement of performance in domestic rabbit breeds. The rearing of more productive rabbit breeds could be pathway to improve the productivity and reduce the production cost. Maternal nutritional status exert a great influence on reproductive functions of does, which may expand from conception, through gestation and parturition and development of kits to puberty. Methods: Four breeds of rabbit were evaluated for their parturition, weaning and pubertal differences among the rabbit population in Ibadan, Nigeria. The breed consist of Fauve De Bourgogne (FDB), Chinchilla (CHA), British Spot (BS) and New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. A total of 60 bucks and 360 does consisting of 15 bucks and 90 does per breed were mated in 6 mating cycles, three each of natural mating and artificial insemination. All does were synchronized for estrus with 20 IU pregnant mare serum gonadotropin 48 h prior to mating. The does after parturition were assessed for milk yield (g) and kit survival rate (%) till weaning, weight changes of kits from birth to puberty. At puberty, the pubertal age (days) and weight (g) of the offspring were assessed. Result: Results obtained reveals that British Spot doe had highest milk yield among the breeds which significantly increased growth of kit and weight at weaning in British Spot rabbits. Survival rates of Chinchilla kits were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than Fauve de Bourgogne, British Spot and New Zealand White kits. Puberty attainment of the rabbits indicates that British spot does and Fauve de Bourgogne bucks are early maturing. Conclusion: Chinchilla shows high kit survivability and British spot has highest milk yield among the four breeds of rabbit.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 1991

Sixty-one 5-11 month-old California, Chinchilla and New Zealand White rabbit were employed in this investigation. Thirty-three does were superovulated by injecting FSH/HCG subcutaneously or intravenously and then sacrificed at different hours after mating. The ova were collected from the fallopian tubes with Ham's F-10 medium supplemented with 0.4% bovine serum albumin (BSA) and 1% pregnant rabbit serum (PRS). Embryos were examined under an inverted DIC microscopy for observing the stage of development. We have found that the fertilized ova formed pronuclei at 19 - 20 hr postcoitus. Approximately at 26, 64 - 78 and 84 - 88 hr after mating, the fertilized ova cleaved further to 2-cell, morulae and blastocyst stage respectively. Another 28 does were allocated to the gene transfer study. Fourteen of the 28 does were sacrificed at 19 - 20 hr to donate the pronuclear stage ova for gene injection. The other 14 does were induced to pseudopreganacy by injection of 100 IU HCG intravenous as recipients. Four hundreds and seventeen ova were injected totally and 212 gene injected zygotes were transferred into the recipient oviducts. Five recipients became pregnant and 10 fetuses were obtained. Eight of the 10 fetuses were analysed for gene incorporation, but none of them were transgenic.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.195-201
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• 1999

This study was carried out to improve a technique of cloned animal prodcution by preactivation of nuclear recipient oocytes with ionomycin and 6-dimethylaminopurine (6-DMAP) in rabbits. The oocytes were collected from the oviduct of superovulated rabbit at 19∼20 hours post hCG injection. The collected oocytes were preactivated and self-enucleated by treating 5 uM ionoycin for 5 min, and 2.0 mM 6-DMAP for two hours. Microsurgical removel of the chromation complex in the second polar bodies was effectively performd and single blastomere separated from 32-cell stage rabbit embryos was injected into the perivitelline space of the enculeated recipient oocyts. Follwoing electrofusion and in vitro culture for 18 hours, the nuclear transplant(NT) embryos were transferred into the uterine horns of naturally mated or synchronized recipient does. When 32 NT embryous reconstituted with preactivated oocytes were transferred to 2 recipient does, one foster doe delivered two offspring (6.3%), while not a offspring was delivered from three foster does which received 17 NT embryos reconstituted with non-preactivated oocytes. A total of 68 NT embryos reconstituted with preactivated oocytes were transferred into the uterine horns of 7 synchronized ecipient does. Among them, two recipients were pregnant and delivered three offspring(5.9%).

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.189-196
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• 1994

This study was perfomed to investigate the differentiation of rabbit blastocysts microinjected with testosterone solution. A total of 140 mixed breed does was superovulated, synchronized and hand mated. The eggs were flushed from uterine horns between 65 and 89 hrs after mating. Testosterone was dissolved in 95% ethanol and diluted with PBS at the ratio of 1: 99. Final concentration of testosterone was adjusted to 1 pg /ml. 6~8 bias-tocysts were microinjected with 1~10 p Q of the diluted testosterone solution, and tranfer-red into the uterine horns of the synchronized recipients. When 140 donor does were treat-ed with a single does of 200 IU PMSG in combination with 100 IU RCG 48 hrs apart, 134 of them(97%) showed standing estrus. Ovarian responses of 117 does were examined following mating and the rate of ovulation was 11.23 i 1.20. Ova were recovered from donors between 65 and 89 hrs after mating. Recovery rates of ova were 37.5% and 42.2% of recovered ova were blastocysts. A total of 106 blastsocysts were microinjected with testosterone solution and transferred into the uterine horns of 15 synchronized recipient does. One of the recipients was pregnant and delivered 7 baby rabbits. The external genitalia of the young rabbits appered to be the same appearance as the buck entierly.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.167-172
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• 1994

This experiment was arried out to investigate the development of ea4y rabbit embryos in vivo. Twenty-six New Zealand White does were superovulated by treatment with PMSG(Intervet Co; I. M single injection, 150. U./rabbit) followed 3 day later by simultaneous I.V injection of 100 I.U HCG (Intervet Co, )and natural service with fertile male. All of does was killed at the specific times (24, 27, 30, 36, 42, 50 and 93 h post-hCG) to find out the early embryonic development in vivo respectively. Embryos at the specified stages of development were obtained at the following times after injection of hCG; one-ceH at 24 h, two-cell at 24~27h, four-cell at 27~36 h, morulae at 50 h and early blasto-cyst at 93 h and expanded or hatching blastocyst at 144 h. Number of embryos recovered per rabbit superovulated was 26.1 and average of recovery rate was 83.7%. The results suggest that superovulation was efficient for the increase of embryo number in rabbits, and as shown in results, asynchronous cleavage was prevalent among the recovered embryos.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.363-371
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• 1997

The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of gonadotropin administration on blood ovarian steroid hormone in angora rabbit. Mature angora rabbits were primed for superovulation with PMSG 100IU. Eighty hours later, the rabbit were induced to ovulate with HCG 100IU. In exp 1, blood progesterone and estradiol of superovulated does were measured by radiommunoassay. Blood progesterone concentration at 93, 99, 102 and 114 hours after HCG injection were 12.9$\pm$0.5, 34.8$\pm$5.1, 12.2$\pm$2.7 and 43.4$\pm$5.8ng/ml, respectively. Mean progesterone concentration of blood collected at 99 and 114 hours after HCG injection(p<0.05). However, mean blood estradiol concentration was not changed. In exp 2, superovulated does were unilaterally ovariectomized at 96 hours after HCG injection. Blood progesterone concentration was tend to be decreased after ovariectomy. Nosignificant changes in blood estradiol concentration was observed after ovariectomy. In exp 3, superovulated does were bilaterally ovariectomized at 96 hours after HCG injection Ovariectomized does were treated with progesterone. Blood progesterone level in the rabbits treated, twice daily, with 5mg progesterone after ovariectomy was similiar to that in the superovulated intact rabbits. Blood estradiol concentration of the rabbits after bilateral ovariectomy was beyond detection range. Blood progesterone concentration was significantly decreased to 7.6$\pm$3.0ng/ml wi thin 3 hours after ovriectomy(p<0.05). However, that value was increased to 34.8$\pm$8.2ng/ml by 5 mg progesterone treatment and this elevated level was significatnly decreased to 7.3$\pm$2.4ng/ml at 12 hours after progesterone administration(p<0.05).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.738-748
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• 2012

One of the main goals of small, medium and large farms is to improve the reproductive performance of rabbit does. Stocks of lower productivity can be improved by crossing with intensive breeds. A better nutritional status of both foetuses and suckling kits has a positive effect on their later productivity. Overfeeding young females before first mating can lead to conditions of fattiness. Using restricted feeding or higher fibre content in the feed and changing it for a higher level ad libitum feeding about one week prior to first mating leads to longer lifespan and higher productive level. Intensive reproductive rhythm creates a negative energy balance in does : they are unable to consume enough feed (energy) for the nutritional requirements of foetus and lactation, and therefore lose most of their fat reserves. Furthermore, primiparous does also expend energy because they are still growing. Under intensive conditions, the 42-d reproductive rhythm (re-mating 11 days after parturition) is recommended. Under extensive conditions, the 18 or 25-d mating interval with 35 to 42-d weaning could be suitable. On small farms, natural mating is favoured; on large farms AI is commonly employed. The main advantage of AI is the all-in, all-out system. Hormonal (PMSG) treatment is used with AI to increase receptivity on d 11. Frequent and high level PMSG use can lead to higher anti-PMSG antibody rates. Lower level (max. 20 IU) and less frequent PMSG injection or non-hormonal alternative methods (short dam-litter separation, changing nursing method or lighting programs) are recommended for this reason.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.77-87
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• 1972

Korean rheum (Rheum undulatum Linne) as one of the botanical crude drugs which belong to polygonaceae family has been extensively applied in Chinese medicine during the last decades. It has been particularly used in cathartic and gastric tonic among the folk remedies. There are, however, a few reports with regard to the pharmacological effects on the motility of intestines of several animals. The authors hereby paid attention to this point of view and made experiment to examine the relationship between the alcohol extract of Korean rhei rhizoma and the motility of the isolated rabbit intestine, making the use of several drugs related to the motility of intestine such as acetylcholine, pilocarpine, atropine, papaverine, serotonin, and barium chloride. The movement of the isolated rabbit intestine in Tyrode's solution was recorded with the electric kymograph according to the Magnus method. The results of the experiment are as follows. 1. The motility of the isolated rabbit intestine represents the tendency of gradual dilatation in proportion to the concentration of R-A $10^{-4}$, $5{\times}10^{-4}$, and $10^{-3}$. 2. R-A $5{\times}10^{-4}$ does not seem to have the significant effect with acetylcholine, pilocarpine and atropine on motility of the isolated rabbit intestine strip. 3. R-A $5{\times}10^{-4}$ significantly blocks the contractile effect caused by serotonin $10^{-6}$ on motility of the isolated rabbit intestine strip. 4. R-A $5{\times}10^{-4}$ significantly blocks the contractile effect caused by barium chloride $10^{-4}$ on motility of the isolated rabbit intestine strip. 5. R-A $5{\times}10^{-4}$ significantly synergizes the dilatative effect caused by papaverine $10^{-6}$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.474-481
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• 1996

Since the commercially available rabbit anti-cyclin D3, generated from c-terminal 16 amino acid residues which are common to human and murine cyclin D3, is highly cross-reactive with many other cellular proteins of mouse, a new rabbit polyclonal anti-cyclin D3 has been raised by using murine cyclin D3 protein expressed at a high level in Escherichia coli as the immunogen. To express murine cyclin D3 protein in E. coli, the cyclin D3 cDNA fragment encoding c-terminal 236 amino acid residues obtained by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was inserted into the NcoI/BamHI site of protein expression vector, pET 3d. Molecular mass of the cyclin D3 overexpressed in the presence of IPTG (Isopropyl $\beta$-D-thiogalactopyranoside) was approximately 26 kDa as calculated from the reading frame on the DNA sequence, and the protein was insoluble and mainly localized in the inclusion bodies that could be easily purified from the other cellular soluble proteins. When renaturation was performed following denaturation of the insoluble cyclin D3 protein in the inclusion bodies using guanidine hydrochloride, 4.4 mg of soluble form of cyclin D3 protein was produced from the transformant cultured in 100ml of LB media under the optimum conditions. Four-hundred micrograms of the soluble form of cyclin D3 protein was used for each immunization of a rabbit. When the antiserum obtained 2 weeks after tertiary immunization was applied to Western blot analysis, it was able to detect 33 kDa cyclin D3 protein in both murine lymphoma cell line BW5147.G.1.4 and human Jurkat T cells at 3,000-fold dilution with higher specificity to murine cyclin D3, demonstrating that the new rabbit polyclonal anti-murine cyclin D3 generated against c-terminal 236 amino acid residues more specifically recognizes murine cyclin D3 protein than does the commercially available rabbit polyclonal antibody raised against c-terminal 16 amino acids residues.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2013

The aim of this study was to compare both the performance of litters derived from two sire genetic origins (SGO), Vienna Blue (VB) and Burgundy Fawn (BF), along successive seasons of birth (SB; winter, spring, summer and autumn), and doe reproductive performance in an organic production system. A total of fifty-eight does consisting of a mixture of crosses of several medium-large size breeds at different parity order (P, 1 = nulliparous; 2 = primiparous; ${\geq}3$ = multiparous) and twelve males (6 VB and 6 BF) were housed indoors at environmental conditions that followed seasonality. An extensive reproductive rhythm was used and kits were weaned at $46{\pm}6$ d of age. Doe reproductive performance and the data of 105 litters (55 from VB and 50 from BF SGO) were recorded throughout the SB. No statistically significant differences related to SGO effect were observed. As regards parity order, multiparous does showed higher live weights (LW) (p<0.05), total born (p<0.01), total born alive (p<0.05) per delivery, and litter weight of born alive (p<0.05), but lower milk output at 21st d than primiparous does (p<0.05). The extensive reproductive rhythm mainly increased litter performance at birth in multiparous does but was not sufficient to permit a complete recovery of body reserves lost during lactation. Autumn SB negatively affected doe LW variation between deliveries. The number of pups born and born alive per delivery (p<0.05) and litter size at 21 d of age and at weaning (p<0.01) were lower during hot SB. Due to the lower litter size of pups born in summer and autumn, their individual weight at 21st d of age and daily individual growth rate 0 to 21 d were higher than those of pups born in winter (p<0.001). Litter performance at 21st d of age and individual pup pre-weaning growth rate were poorer for those born in spring than in other seasons due to the harmful effects of increased environmental temperatures. SB affected most of the performance traits of does and young rabbits reared under the organic farming system. The rabbits seemed better suited to organic rearing conditions during winter than in other seasons. The worst results overall were obtained in the spring SB, whereas the hot SB negatively affected both doe energy balance and prolificacy. In conclusion, the pups of the 2 SGO showed good pre-weaning performance and seemed suited to the organic rabbit production system.