• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.227-237
• /
• 2021

Artificial insemination of Korean native cattle (KNC) is the predominant method for breed improvement. However, industrialization of embryo production and transfer is necessary to utilize the genetic potential of KNC. The aim of this study was to examine associations between KNC donor cows and ovum pick-up (OPU) conditions, in-vivo oocyte recovery, and embryo development. Oocyte recovery and blastocyst development rates were higher at 50 and 60 mmHg OPU vacuum pressure than at 40 mmHg, which was, however, not significant. Regarding follicle growth, injection of 500 ㎍ GnRH 36 hours before OPU significantly increased the number of OPU oocytes from an average of 4.6 to 7.6 (P<0.05); no significant difference in embryo development rates was observed. Significant differences were observed in the numbers of OPU oocytes, embryo development rates, and transplantable blastocysts per individual among nine KNC donors (P<0.05). Furthermore, although there was no difference in OPU oocyte recovery intervals in approximately 2~8 weeks, the number of recovered oocytes significantly decreased at the 12-week interval (P<0.05); there was no difference in embryo development rates. The number of oocytes and embryonic development rates only tended to decrease until the seventh OPU session, but decreased significantly until the eighth session (P<0.05). The average pregnancy rate after transfer of OPU-derived in-vitro embryos into recipient cows was 41.8%. To improve the efficiency of OPU egg recovery and in-vitro embryo production, considering KNC donor characteristics, vacuum pressure of 60 mmHg, GnRH pretreatment to induce follicle growth, and effective OPU egg recovery up to seven times at intervals of 2~4 weeks appears to be most suitable. This study may facilitate the industrialization of KNC embryo production and transfer using high-quality cows.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.55-62
• /
• 2005

This study was undertaken to access the effect of collection methods on the collection efficiency, blastocyst rate and pregnancy rate after IVP embryo transfer. The ovaries of Hanwoo were obtained from an abattoir and kept on 25 to $28^{\circ}C$ and transported to laboratory within 4 hrs. The oocytes were collected by aspiration of follicles $(2\~6\;mm)$ with or without slicing of ovaries after aspiration. The oocytes were matured in vitro (IVM) for 20 to 24 hrs in TCM-199 supplemented with $10\%$ fetal bovine serum at $39^{\circ}C$ under $5\%\;CO_{2}$ in air. Following routine IVM/IVF procedure, the oocytes and presumed zygotes were cultured for three day in CRlaa medium with BSA. The cumulus cells at 2 to 8-cell stage of embryos removed then the embryos and were cultured in CRlaa medium containing $10\%$ fetal bovine serum in $5\%\;CO_{2}$ at $39^{\circ}C$. The fresh blastocysts cultured for 7 to 9 days were transferred into recipients. The numbers of oocytes recovered form two different methods, the aspiration and slicing after aspiration, were compared to know what. The number of oocytes per ovary was 8.2 and 6.5 in aspiration combining slicing, and aspiration groups, respectively (p<0.05). The cleavage rate in aspiration method are significantly (p<0.05) high than those in slicing post aspiration $(27.9\%)$, and aspiration $(25.5\%)$. The pregnancy .ate in aspiration method $(62.5\%)$ was high than that in slicing method after aspiration $(54.4\%)$. The pregnancy rates of aspiration method and slicing method after aspiration in nullipara $(58.1\%\;vs\;68.2\%)$ was high than that in pluripara $(49.5\%\;vs\;53.2\%)$. The results obtained that the increased number of oocytes per ovary in slicing method after aspiration could be better than that in aspiration method. Pregnancy rate in aspiration method was slightly higher in than that in slicing method after aspiration.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.22 no.1 s.25
• /
• pp.146-152
• /
• 1989

To test the validity of referral of high risk pregnancy in the MCH Center, 6,017 pregnant women who visited MCH Center of South District Health Center for delivery between 1 April 1985 and 31 March 1987 were interviewed on arrival to obtain the data for demographic characteristics and obsteric history and traced to check the delivery outcome. Out of 5,820 women whose delivery outcomes were confrmed, 704 women(12.1%) were referred to other hospital or clinic for high risk factors. The proportion of poor delivery outcome(stillbirth, low birth weight and neonatal death) among referred cases was 4.4% while that of the women delivered at the MCH Center was 2.2% (p<0.01). Decision of the midwives for the referral of high risk pregnancy based on their clinical assessment was consistent with the delivery outcome (good or poor) in 86.5%. Major reasons for referral were premature rupture of membrane(46.5%) and cephalopelvic disproportion(20.0%) and the C-section rates for these cases were 10.1%, 17.6%, respectively. Discriminant analysis of the demographic characteristics and obstertric history for the discrimination of delivery outcome showed that gestational age had the highest discriminant function coefficient(0.88) and it was followed by parity(0.37) and maternal education(0.30). Referral of high risk pregnancy by the midwives based on their clinical assessment was considered to be reasonably valid. However, a risk scoring system for an MCH Center which can improve the validity may be developed if one applies the discriminant analysis for more comprehensive independent variable(including clinical assessment of midwife, demographic characteristics and obstetric history) and dependent variable (including medically indicated C-section, complication of pregnancy and delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight, neonatal death and maternal death).

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.21-26
• /
• 2006

This study was examined the effects of concentrations of polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP) and supplementation of EGF, cysteine and PVP during in vitro maturation on the development of bovine embryos. In experiment 1, 0.1 to 3.0% PVP was supplemented to IVM medium before IVF. The development rates to the blastocyst stage was significantly higher in 0.5% PVP group than 3.0% PVP group (P<0.05). In experiment 2, EGF, rysteine and PVP were supplemented to IVM medium. The hight cleavage rate was obtained from cysteine group, but blastocyst formation rates did not differ among groups. The highest total cell number and inner cell mass (ICM) cell number were observed in cysteine group. In PVP group, ICM cell number was significantly low than those of cysteine and control groups (P<0.05). After embryo transfer, pregnancy rate was significantly low in PVP group compared to other groups (P<0.05). These results indicate that the supplementation of PVP in IVM medium support the embryo development, but has a deteriorate effect on the blastocyst quality.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.50-56
• /
• 2019

These studies were conducted to evaluate developmental competence of follicular oocyte collected from the ovaries of Hanwoo cows with the high offspring meat quality (1++ and 1+ grade). Cumulus oocyte complexes from individual cows were matured, fertilized and cultured using protocols of in-vitro maturation (IVM), invitro fertilization (IVF) and in-vitro culture (IVC). The rates of blastocyst development from Hanwoo cows with the offspring meat quality grades of 1++ and 1+ were 18.6 and 21.2%, respectively. The rates of blastocyst development were 26.3, 20.7, 20.7, 17.2 and 31.2% from Hanwoo cows with the meat quality grades of 1++, 1+, 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Fiftyseven transferable embryos were recovered from 11 Hanwoo donor cows (5.2/head) with the high offspring meat quality grades of 1++ and 1+ in vivo, and the pregnancy rate after embryo transfer was 61.1%. In conclusion, these results suggest that in vitro embryo production from the ovaries of cows with the high meat quality grades using individual culture system can be used an efficient method for livestock improvement. In addition, for the successful industrialization of embryo transfer, conception rate should be improved.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.40-59
• /
• 2024

Objectives: Since infertility has been big social issue in Korea, this study aims to analyze the domestic study trends in Korean Medicine (KM) for female infertility treatment. Methods: Case studies applying KM treatment on female infertility were selected through 5 domestic journal databases. General characteristics, interventions, outcomes and results and the quality of the reports were analyzed. Especially, the quality assessments of studies were made using CAse REport (CARE) guideline and Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal checklist. Results: 14 studies (22 cases) were finally selected for the analyzation. The mean age of the participants was 35.1 and the most common factor of female infertility in this study was Uterine factor. Herbal medicine was applied in all studies, and acupuncture was also used frequently. Most cases reported pregnancy of the participants. According to quality assessment, 'Diagnostic challenges', 'Intervention adherence and tolerability', 'Adverse and unanticipated events', 'Patient perspective' and 'Informed consent' were showed low reporting rates. Conclusions: Korean Medicine treatment for female infertility is expected to be effective. In quality evaluation, there were some items with low reporting rates. Further clinical studies have to be conducted to establish the evidence for the treatment.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.45-68
• /
• 2004

This study was done to examine the sexual knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of Korea college students and investigate the effects of sexual education programs on college students with respect to their sexual knowledge and sexual attitudes. For these objectives, a single 92 item sexual questionnaire was administered to 213 college students (113 in the experimental group and 100 in the control group) as a pretest one day before the experimental group participated in a sexual education program. Then a three week sexual education program was given to the experimental group and a posttest was administered to both groups day after the program. The findings from the pretest； 1) The main sources of sexual information were friends, Internet, books and magazines. College students in this study showed relatively high scores on their overall sexual knowledge but showed low scores on their knowledge of venereal disease and HIV/AIDS. Female students had a higher sexual knowledge of physiology, pregnancy and sexual abuse than male students. 2) The overall sexual attitudes of college students were subjective. They showed especially strong liberal attitudes to premarital intercourse, had few double standards and agreed on induced abortion. Male students showed a more liberal attitude to premarital intercourse and extramarital intercourse (X²＝50.679, p＜.001). Christian students showed the lowest rates of permissiveness for induced abortion than students of other religions. 3) 64.9％ of the subjects in this study had experience in intercourse. The gender and age of students did influence the experience rates of intercourse. Male students had much higher rates of intercourse than female students (X²＝13.565, p＜.001) and older students had higher experience rates of intercourse. 4) From the analysis of the relationship between sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, this study revealed that sexual knowledge and sexual attitudes of college students have a correlation 6＝0.324, p＝0.000). Students' experience of intercourse did not influence their sexual knowledge scores, but did influence their sexual attitudes. Students who had experience of intercourse showed more liberal sexual attitudes than those students who did not (t＝2.677, p＜.050). And students who were exposed to sexual media such as pornography, sexual magazines, sexual books and the Internet, also showed more liberal sexual attitudes than those students who were not. The findings from the comparison of pretest and posttest ； 1. The sexual knowledge of the experimental group that participated in the sexual education program was significantly increased after the program compared to before the program (p＜.001). However the control group did not show any significant change in their sexual knowledge. 2. The sexual attitudes of the experimental group were also changed significantly becoming less liberal (p＜.001). The control group also showed significant change in their sexual attitudes, also becoming less liberal (p＜.001). Therefore, the sexual education program used in this study was effective in increasing college students' accurate sexual knowledge, but had little effect on their sexual attitudes.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.47-52
• /
• 1997

The objective of this study was to investigate the in vitro / in vivo embryonic development after vitrification of mouse zygotes and the chrom osomal normality of delivered live young after embryo transfer. Mouse IVF zygotes were cryopreserved by vitrification using vitrification solution, EFS40 (40% ethylene glyc이, 30% Ficoll a and 0.3 M sucrose in phosphate buffer saline c containing 10% FBS ) . After mouse zygotes were exposed to EFS40 at 25"C for 30 sec., they were immediately plunged into LN$_2$. Vitrified thawed mouse zygotes were cultured upto bIastocysts in M16 for 4 days. The rates of in vitro development were 71.5% under this condition. Cultured blastocysts were transferred to recipients (3 day of pseudopregnant) on one or both uterus horns (6-8 embryos per a uterus horn). And all recipients were allowed to produce litters. The results obtained in these experiments were summarized as follows: The pregnancy rates and in vivo survival rates, live fetus rates, for vitrified zygotes (80.0, 39.6%) were not significantly difference in those of control zygotes (77.8%, 50.0%). Also, all of live-born young mice were chromosomally normal (n=40). This results suggested that proposed rapid vitrification procedures can be effectively use in 1-cell mouse zygotes cryopreservation.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.133-138
• /
• 2016

Objective: To determine the incidence of embryo retention (ER) in the transfer catheter following embryo transfer (ET) in blastocyst transfer and investigate whether retransferring retained embryos has an impact on reproductive outcomes in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization-ET. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 1,131 blastocyst transfers, which comprised 223 single blastocyst transfer (SBT) and 908 double blastocyst transfer (DBT) cycles. Each SBT and DBT group was classified depending on whether ET was performed without retained embryos in the catheter during the first attempt (without-ER group) or whether any retained embryos were found following ET (ER group) for the purpose of comparing reproductive outcomes in a homogenous population. Results: The overall incidence of finding retained embryos was 2.8% (32/1,131). There were no retained embryos in SBT cycles. In DBT cycles, implantation rates (30.0% vs. 26.6%), positive ${\beta}-hCG$ rates (57.2% vs. 56.2%), clinical pregnancy rates (45.3% vs. 46.9%), and live birth rates (38.9% vs. 43.8%) were not significantly different between the without-ER and ER groups. There were no significant differences in the mean birth weight (g) $2,928.4{\pm}631.8$ vs. $2,948.7{\pm}497.8$ and the mean gestational age at birth ($269.3{\pm}17.2days$ vs. $264.2{\pm}25.7days$). A total of nine cases of congenital birth defects were found in this study population. Eight were observed in the without-ER group and one in the ER group. Conclusion: Our results suggest that retransfer of retained embryos does not have any adverse impact on reproductive outcomes in blastocyst transfer cycles. Furthermore, our results support finding that SBT might be advantageous for decreasing the incidence of retained embryos in catheters.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
• /
• 2001.03a
• /
• pp.76-76
• /
• 2001

The objective of this study was to optimize the vitrification method of in vitro produced bovine embryos. Thus, in vitro produced embryos at 8 cell, morula and blastocyst stages were vitrified on electron microscope grids (EM grids) or in open pulled straws (OPS) with EG5.5 (5.5 M ethylene glycol, 1.0 M sucrose and 10% FBS in m-DPBS medium) freezing solution and their survival rates after thawing were compared. The embryos on EM grids or in OPS were briefly exposed to EG5.5 freezing solution and plunged directly into liquid nitrogen within 30 to 35 sec. Post-thawed embryos were serially diluted in 0.5, 0.25 and 0.125 M sucrose in m-DPBS, each for 1 min, and then cultured in CRI aa medium supplemented with 10% FBS. Embryonic survival rate was assessed as re-expanded and hatched rates of those embryos after warming. The rates of re-expansion embryos did not significantly different between EM grid (8 cell: 42.10%, morula: 66.66% and blastocyst: 77.08%) and OPS (8 cell: 47.36%, morula: 61.90% and blastocyst: 83.33%) methods. In addition, the hatched rates in EM grid (8 cell: 31.57%, morula: 57.14% and blastocyst: 72.91%) were similar to those in OPS (8 cell. 34.21%, morula: 50.00% and Blastocyst: 77.08%). Interestingly, even at the same blastocyst stage, the in vitro survival of day 7 embryos (EM grid: 79.48 and OPS: 87.18%) was higher than those of day 8 embryos (EM grid: 72.10 and OPS: 82.06%). The total cell number of blastocyst developed in vitro after vitrification was examined with Hoechst 33342 staining to compare the embryo quality among different treatment groups. The total cell number of blastocyst was not significantly different between vitrified groups (EM grid: 162.4$\pm$8.0 and OPS: 158.4$\pm$7.1) and unvitrified control (168.0$\pm$5.6). These results indicate that both vitrification containers can provide the high rate of embryo survival. Moreover, the OPS container may not need a cap to protect the container from floating after immersion in L$N_2$. Therefore, this study suggest that bovine embryos can be cryopreserved easily, effectively and successfully by vitrification method using EM grid or OPS with EG5.5 freezing solution. In the future, the Pregnancy rate would be investigated after transfer of our vitrified embryos into the appropriated recipients.