Ovum

BACKGROUND: Sturgeon species are living fossils that exhibit unique reproductive characteristics, and elucidation of the molecular processes governing the formation and quality of sturgeon eggs is crucial. However, comprehensive data on the protein composition of sturgeon ovarian fluid (OF) and eggs and their functional significance are lacking. To address this knowledge gap, the aim of the present study was to conduct a comprehensive comparative proteomic analysis of Siberian sturgeon OF and eggs using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)...

Context Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from the oviductal fluid (oEVs) play a critical role in various reproductive processes, including sperm capacitation, fertilisation, and early embryo development. Aims To characterise porcine oEVs (poEVs) from different stages of the estrous cycle (late follicular, LF; early luteal, EL; mid luteal, ML; late luteal, LL) and investigate their impact on sperm functionality. Methods poEVs were isolated, characterised, and labelled to assess their binding to boar spermatozoa...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the per OPU clinical outcomes for transfer of Day 3 double cleavage-stage embryos (DET) and Day 5 single blastocyst-stage (SBT) in patients with five or fewer good quality embryos on day 3 per occyte pick-up cycle (OPU) in antagonist cycles with consideration of blastocyst formation failure. METHODS: This was a retrospective, observational cohort study of 2,116 cases of OPU treated with antagonist protocol in the affiliated Chenggong Hospital of Xiamen University between January 2013 and December 2020...

OBJECTIVE: Despite the developments of in vitro fertilization (IVF) protocols, implantation failure remains a challenging problem, owing to the unbalance between the embryo, endometrium, and immune system interactions. Effective treatments are urgently required to improve successful implantation. Recently, many researchers have focused on granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) to regulate immune response and embryo-endometrium cross-talk. However, previous studies have reported inconsistent findings on the efficacy of G-CSF therapy on implantation failure...

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is one of the significant causes of infertility. Impaired glucose metabolism and insulin resistance add chiefly to the pathogenesis of PCOS. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of metformin and pioglitazone (insulin sensitizers) on the quality of the ovum and pregnancy rate in the IVF cycle. METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial study, 172 infertile women with PCO were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either 15 mg pioglitazone (case group) or 1000 mg metformin (control group) twice a day for 6 weeks before IVF, and the pregnancy rate was compared across the groups...

In the fields of biomedicine and microfluidics, the non-contact capture, manipulation, and spin of micro-particles hold great importance. In this study, we propose a programmable non-contact manipulation technique that utilizes photoacoustic effect to spin and transport living shrimp eggs. By directing a modulated pulsed laser toward a liquid-covered stainless-steel membrane, we can excite patterned Lamb waves within the membrane. These Lamb waves occur at the interface between the membrane and the liquid, enabling the manipulation of nearby particles...

Recently, the first sprayable RNAi biopesticide, Ledprona, against the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, has been registered at the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae), a group of destructive agricultural and horticultural pests, are notorious for rapid development of insecticide/acaricide resistance. The management options, on the other hand, are extremely limited. RNAi-based biopesticides offer a promising control alternative to address this emerging issue...

The chicken egg, an excellent natural source of proteins, has been an overlooked native biomaterial with remarkable physicochemical, structural, and biological properties. Recently, with significant advances in biomedical engineering, particularly in the development of 3D in vitro platforms, chicken egg materials have increasingly been investigated as biomaterials due to their distinct advantages such as their low cost, availability, easy handling, gelling ability, bioactivity, and provision of a developmentally stimulating environment for cells...

In contrast to most fishes, salmonids exhibit the unique ability to hold their eggs for several days after ovulation without significant loss of viability. During this period, eggs are held in the body cavity in a biological fluid, the coelomic fluid (CF) that is responsible for preserving egg viability. To identify CF proteins responsible for preserving egg viability, a proteomic comparison was performed using 3 salmonid species and 3 non-salmonid species to identify salmonid-specific highly abundant proteins...

The Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica) plays an essential role in crop pollination, environment diversity, and the production of honey bee products. However, the health of individual honey bees and their colonies is under pressure due to multiple stressors, including viruses as a significant threat to bees. Monitoring various virus infections could be a crucial selection tool during queen rearing. In the present study, samples from all developmental stages (eggs, larvae, pupae, and queens) were screened for the incidence of seven viruses during queen rearing in Slovenia...

This retrospective study aimed at identifying factors that contribute to the success of equine in vitro embryo production by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). A total of 7993 ovum pick-up (OPU) sessions were performed, totaling 2540 donor mares and semen from 396 stallions. Oocytes were aspirated at multiple sites in Brazil and were sent to the laboratory, within 6 h from OPU, in pre-maturation medium where they were in vitro matured (IVM) followed by ICSI and in vitro embryo culture for 7-8 days...

The majority of ixodid ticks display host-specificity to varying extents. Feeding on different hosts affects their development and reproduction. Consequences can be analyzed at the level of the egg, as it is the initial stage of tick development. Tick egg proteins are abundant and diverse, providing nutrients for embryonic development. However, studies on tick egg profiles are scarce. In this study, we aimed to analyze whether feeding Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis ticks on the yaks (Bos grunniens) and domestic sheep (Ovis aries) has an impact on the variety and variability of the egg proteome...

A crucial event in sexual reproduction is when haploid sperm and egg fuse to form a new diploid organism at fertilization. In mammals, direct interaction between egg JUNO and sperm IZUMO1 mediates gamete membrane adhesion, yet their role in fusion remains enigmatic. We used AlphaFold to predict the structure of other extracellular proteins essential for fertilization to determine if they could form a complex that may mediate fusion. We first identified TMEM81, whose gene is expressed by mouse and human spermatids, as a protein having structural homologies with both IZUMO1 and another sperm molecule essential for gamete fusion, SPACA6...

Bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), silver carp (H. molitrix), black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), and grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), are invasive species in North America. However, they hold significant economic importance as food sources in China. The drifting stage of carp eggs has received great attention because egg survival rate is strongly affected by river hydrodynamics. In this study, we explored egg-drift dynamics using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models to infer potential egg settling zones based on mechanistic criteria from simulated turbulence in the Lower Missouri River...

Despite the currently relatively low effectiveness of producing bovine embryos in vitro, there is a growing interest in applying this laboratory method in the field of reproduction. Many aspects of the procedure need to be improved. One of the main problems is the inferior developmental competence of in vitro matured oocytes that are collected using the ovum pick-up (OPU) method. The mechanisms of oocyte capacitation and maturation, as well as the in vivo conditions in which they grow and mature, should be carefully analyzed...

Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction in which a gamete (ovum or sperm) develops without being fertilized. Tomer Jordi Chaffer uses parthenogenesis to challenge Don Marquis' future-like-ours (FLO) argument against abortion. According to Marquis, (1) what makes it morally wrong to kill us is that it would deprive us of a possible future that we might come to value-a future "like ours" (FLO) and (2) human fetuses are numerically identical to any adult human organism they may develop into, and thus have a FLO...

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to evaluate the utility and safety of ancillary maneuvers during oocyte retrieval for patients with endometrioma that makes ovum pick-up hard due to poor ovarian surgical accessibility. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Cases of 251 women with ovarian endometriomas undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) in our infertility unit were retrospectively analyzed to evaluate the clinical IVF cycle outcomes after oocyte retrieval. Controls (n = 251) were age-matched women without endometriomas who underwent an uncomplicated oocyte retrieval...

PURPOSE: Failure to collect oocytes at the time of oocyte pick-up is an unfavorable outcome of in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. In these cases, prompt intrauterine insemination (IUI) could be an option (rescue IUI), but this possibility has been poorly studied. METHODS: Rescue IUI is routinely offered in our unit in women failing to retrieve oocytes, provided that they have at least one patent tube, normal male semen analysis, and the total number of developed follicles is ≤ 3...

BACKGROUND: Repeated Ovum Pick Up (OPU) could have a detrimental effect on ovarian function, reducing In Vitro Embryo Production (IVEP). The present study examined the therapeutic effect of adipose-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) or its Conditioned Medium (ConM) on ovarian trauma following repeated OPU. Resolvin E1 (RvE1) and Interleukin-12 (IL-12) were investigated as biomarkers. METHODS: Jersey heifers (n=8) experienced 11 OPU sessions including 5 pre-treatment and 6 treatment sessions...

UNLABELLED: ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Anopheles mosquitoes are ectothermic and involved in numerous pathogen transmissions. Their life history traits are influenced by several environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity and photoperiodicity. Despite extensive investigations of these environmental conditions on vector population ecology, their impact on the different life stages of Anopheles at different seasons in the year remains poorly explored. This study reports the potential impact of these abiotic factors on the immature and adult stages of Anopheles gambiae sensu lato during different seasons...