This experiment was carried out to develop the anesthetic methods for ultrasonography and a new simplified disposable needle guidance device for ovum pick-up(OPU) in cows. Three different anesthetic methods were applied as. 1) epidural analgesia only with 2% lidocaine(20~30 ml), 2) epidural analgesia with 2% under general sedation with xylazine, 3) epidural analgesia with 2% lidocaine under general sedation with detomidine. We evaluated the anesthetic effects with items such as relaxation of anal sphincter, tail movement and rectal wall, retractability of both ovaries, additional anesthesia and possibility of OPU. Through this experiment, the above three anesthetic methods were applicable to OPU, but the epidural anlagesia under general sedation with detomldine was most effective for OPU. We developed a new disposable needle guidance device with stainless steel tube. With this, disposable needles can be easily attatchable to any other intravaginal probes. And also, it was found to he practical, economic and effective for OPU with the recovery rate of 51.2%.

This study was carried out to compare the actual size(length and height) of ovaries, follicles and corpora lutea of Korean native cow with those on sonograms. We used 3 different probes(3.5 MHz abdominal probe, 6.5 MHz transvaginal probe and 5.0 MHz transrectal probe) and a calipher for measurements of ovaries, follicles and corpora lutea on sonograms and actual size. Under water immersion, 157 ovaries were scanned with 3 probes and measured in actual size and compared each other. The average height and width of ovaries of Korean native cows were 17.403.99 and 34.236.02mm, respectively. In comparison of height, length of ovaries and preovulation follicles, we found that image with a transvaginal probe was nearly the same as the actual size(p<0.01), but with an abdominal probe the image was appeared larger than the actual size. In measurement(diameter) of preovulation follicles the transvaginal probe was proven to be more accurate to the actual size than other probes and in corpus luteum measurement all probes were accurate. In the comparison of number of follicles by different size ranges, there was no statistical difference in the count of follicles over 10 mm in diameter between the transvaginal probe and naked eyes.

The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of superovulation treatments on ovarian responses, oocyte recovery rates and grades of collected oocytes using an ultrasound-guided transvaginal approach in Korean native cows. Superovulation in cows was induced with two different regimenes: 1) FSH-decreasing dose(n=8): the cows were received twice per day for three days of the total dose of 400 mg of FSH-p, 2) FSH-single dose(n=9): the cows were administrated a single dose of 400 mg of FSH-p in 25% PVP. The Observation of visible follicles and collection of oocytes were performed 12 hours following the last FSH in FSH-decreasing dose group and 48 hours after the FSH-single dose injection. All visible follicles larger than 6 mm were punctured and aspirated with a 6.5 MHz convex-array ultrasound transducer designed for intravaginal use. The mean number of visible follicles(> 6 mm) was significantly(P<0.05) higher in the FSH-decreasing dose treatment (22.811.9) and FSH-single dose treatment (20.612.0) groups than the non-treatment group(7.08). The mean recovery rate of oocytes was not significantly(P<0.05) different between the treatment and control groups, but the mean number of collected oocytes was significantly(P<0.05) higher in the FSH-decreasing dose treatment( 12.611.5) and FSH-single dose treatment (11.813.6) groups than the non-treatment group(3.70.5). In conclusion, the FSH-single dose treatment at superovulation in cows for ultrasound-guided aspiration might increase the number of aspiratable follicles and the recovery rate of follicular oocytes as the FSH-decreasing dose treatment.

The influence of cryopreservation of donor embryos on the in vitro developmental potential in the nuclear transplant rabbit embryos was evaluated. The embryos of 16-cell stage were collected and cryopreserved with EFS solution by vitrification method. The frozen embryos were thawed and synchronized to S and G phase of 32-cell stage. The recipient/ cytoplasms were obtained by removing the first polar body and chromosome mass from the oocytes collected by non-disruptive microsurgery procedure. The separated S and G phase blastomeres of 32-cell stage were injected into enucleated recipient cytoplasms by micromanipulation. After culture until 20 hrs post-hCG injection, the nuclear transplant oocytes were electrofused and activated by electrical stimulation. The fused nuclear transplant embryos were co-cultured with rabbit oviduct epithelial cells. After in vitro culture for 120 hrs, the nuclear transplant embryos developed to blastocyst stage were stained with Hoechst 33342 dye and their blastomeres were counted. The electrofusion rate was significantly (P<0.05) reduced in the frozen nuclear donor,compared with fresh donor nuclei as 80.0 vs 62.8% in S phase and 81.7 vs 64.8% in Gphase, respectivley. The in vitro developmental rate to blastocyst stage with the S and Gphase of fresh embryos(26.3 and 61.1%, respectively) was found significantly (P<0.05) higher, compared to the S and G]phase of frozen embryos(11.9 and 34.6%, respectively). When frozen as well as fresh donor embryos were synchronized to G phase, the in vitro developmental rate to blastocyst stage was significantly (P<0.05) higher, compared with S phase donor nuclei. The cell counts of nuclear transplant embryos developed to blastosyst stage were significantly (P<0.05) more in G phase of fresh or frozen embryos (180.1 and 125.7 cells, respectively), compared with S phase nuclear donor (145.1 and 103.7 cells, respectively). From the above results it was concluded that the rabbit embryos cryo- preserved by vitrification might be available as nuclear donor, though the developmentalpotential and cell counts of nuclear transplant rabbit embryos were decreased significantly.

This study was conducted to improve the in vitro maturation(JVM), in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in vitro developmental capacity of oocytes derived from slaughtered Korean native cattle. The recoverd oocytes, obtained from a local slaughter house, were used completely surrounded by at least 3 layers of cumulus cells in combination with a homogeneous cytoplasmic pigmentation. In vitro maturation was induced in TCM-199 or Ham's F-10 supplemented with LH(1O g/rnl), FSH(35 g/ml), estradiol-17(1 g/ml) at 39 under 5% in air for 24 hours. Sperm from caudal epididyrnis and previously matured cumulus-oocytes complexes were cultured for 24 hours in 100 l droplets of fertilization media under paraffin oil. The zygotes were cultured with media(TCM-199 with bovine oviductal epithelial cells or CRlaa) for 7 to 10 days. The cleavage rate of IVM-IVF oocytes was significantly (P<0.05) higher following maturation using Ham's F-10 (59.9%) than TCM-199 (51.6%). Development to the blastocysts among cleaved embryos was not signficantly different between maturation media: Ham's F-10 (16.0%) and TCM-199(11.9%). However, the hatching rate was affected significantly (P<0.05) on rnaturation media as 62.9% in Ham's F-10, compared with 41.2% in TCM-199. The cleavage rate of IVM-IVF oocytes was significantly (P<0.05) higher following IVF using m-TALP medium (80.1%) than BO medium (51.6%). The percentage of in vitro developed blastocysts among cleaved embryos was not signficantly different between fertimization media: BO (11.7%) and m-TALP (17.6%). The cleavage and the developmental rate to the blastocysts after IVF in m-TALP or condition medium(CM) with or without oviduct epithelial cell monolayer(OECM) was similar(80.1% and 17.6% in m-TALP, 83.8% and 19.4% in M-TALP with OECM. 82.9% and 18.9% in CM, 87.6% and 16.0% in CM with OECM, respectively). The percentage of in vitro developed blastocysts among cleaved embryos was significantly (P<0.05) higher in TCM-199 medium co-cul tured with bovine oviduatal epithelial cell monolayers(35.2%) than CRlaa medium(1.9%). These results stggest that the most transferable IVF embryos could be produced from Ham's F-10, m-TALP and TCM-199 medium with bovine oviductal epithelial cell monolayers for IVM, IVF and IVC, respectively.

The present study was carried out to develop a cloning technology of mouse embryos by nuclear transplantation with electrofusion and to produce cloned offsprings by transfer of reconstituted embryos. A single nucleus from two- and eight-cell embryos was transplanted into the enucleated two-cell embryos by rnicromanipulation. The fusion of nucleus with recipient cytoplasm and the subsequent development of reconstituted embryos in vitro as well as in vivo to term were examined to determine the optimal electrofusion parameters for nuclear transplantation in mouse embryos. The successful enucleation of donor embryos was 84.9 and 83.3% in two- and eight-cell stage, respectively, and the successful injection of nucleus from two- and eight-cell donor embryos into the perivitelline space of enucleated two-cell embryos were 85.1 and 84.7%, respectively. No significant differences were found in enucleation or injection rate between the cell stages of donor embryos. When the blastomeres of intact two-cell mouse embryos were electrofused in 0.3 M mannitol medium(100 sec., 3 pulses), the fusion rate was similarly 93.2, 92.2 and 92.0% in 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 kV /crn, respectively, but in vitro development to blastocyst of the fused two-cell embryos was significantly(P<0.05) lower in 2.0 kV/cm (63.4%) than in 1.0 kV/cm (91.7%) or 1.5 kV/cm (82.4%). The development in vitro to eight-cell stage of the reconstituted embryos with nucleus from two-cell stage(45.5%) was significantly(P<0.05) higher than that from eight-cell stage blastomeres (16.7%). The number of blastomeres of the intact embryos at blastocyst stage was 50i0.6 and 552.4 in in vitro and in vivo cultured mouse embryos, respectively, but significantly(P<0.05) decreased to 350.7 in nuclear transplanted blastocyst embryos. The conception rate of mice following embryo transfer was 32.1% in the reconstituted two-cell embryos using two-cell donor nuclei, which was comparable to the fresh two-cell embryos(40.6%). However, the rate of development in vivo to term following embryo transfer of the reconstituted two-cell embryos using two-cell donor nuclei (23.5%) was significantly(P<0.05) lower compared with the percentage of two-cell fresh embryos(31.5%).

The present experirnents on cryopreservation were carried out to investigate effect of solution toxicity, equilibration time and cell stages on the post-thaw survival of mouse morulae and blastocyst embryos cryopreserved by vitrification in EFS solution. The mouse embryos were exposed to the EFS solution in one step at room temperature, kept in the EFS solution during different period for toxicity test, vitrified in liquid nitrogen and thawed rapidly. After the mouse morulae embryos were exposed to EFS solution for 2 and 5 ruin. at room temperature and then they were washed in 0.5 M sucrose solution and basal mediurn(D-PBS + 10% FCS), they were cultured to examined cryoprotectant toxicity induced injury during exposure, most of embryos developed to expanded blastocysts(100 and 90.0%). However, when the exposure time was extended to 10 and 20 min, these development rates dropped dramatically in 10 ruin. (75.0%) and 20 ruin. (4.5%), respectively. When the compacted morulae were vitrified in EFS solution after equilibration for 2 and 5 min, the embryos have developed to normal blastocyst following thawing, washing and culture processes was 89.3 and 89.6%. However, when the exposure time was expanded to 10 ruin, this survival rate dropped to 68.8%. When the blastocyst were vitrified in EFS solution after equilibration for 2, 5 and 10 minutes, the survival rate of embryos which developed to normal blastocyst following thawing and culture processing were 58.5, 46.7 and 22.4%, respectively. The optimal time of equilibration of mouse morula and blastocysts in EFS solution seemed o be 2 and 5 ruin.