A 7-year-old, intact, female Siberian husky was presented to the Veterinary Medical Center of Chungbuk National University because of vomiting and diarrhea after a fight with a cohabiting dog. Physical examination, radiography, abdominal ultrasonography, and laboratory examination were performed. The dog was diagnosed with pyometra and 10% dehydration. On electrolyte, Na and Cl ion concentration were lower than normal values and Ca ion concentration was slightly lower than normal values. On blood chemistry, blood urea nitrogen and alkaline phosphatase value were extremely higher than normal values. Neutrophil was observed as hypersegmentation. On ultrasonography, enlarged uterine body was observed. Uterus was enlarged and filled with echogenic fluid that is seemed to be pus. Uterine horn was rubbing the bladder. In bacterial culture, the colony morphology was smooth, mucoid, and hemolytic. Also, on molecular diagnosis test, both samples from uterine and abdominal fluid were confirmed to be E. coli. This case describes that uterine pus was leakage to abdominal cavity through oviduct, and pus leakage from uterus may be cause septic peritonitis and death. Also, this case must be considered that physical event such as fight against cohabiting dog, strenuous exercise and kiss-off can cause uterine rupture or pus leakage through oviduct from uterus in dog with pyometra.

Transgenic chickens have been spotlighted as an highly potent bioreactor for their fecundity, short generation time, and eggs associated with mass production of protein. In this study, we generated transgenic chickens exhibiting oviduct specific expression of human growth hormone fused to human transferrin for oral administration. Gene of the modified growth hormone located at downstream ovalbumin promoter (∼3.6 kb) was introduced to stage X blastodermal cell employing retrovirus vector system. Several transgenic chickens were successfully generated. However, genomic analyses showed unexpected deletion within the transgene. The modification of the transgene seemed to occur during germ cell formation because the deletion was detected only from the sperm DNA of the G0 founder animal. There was no evidence of deletion in the somatic cell DNA samples of the same chicken. Consequently, same pattern of the deletion was confirmed in both somatic and germ cells of the G1 progeny.

This study examined the motility of either the unattached(upper) or attached(lower) Hanwoo sperm to bovine oviduct epithelial cell(BOEC) monolayers to determine whether there are any changes in their motility during co-culture. The cleavage and blastocyst development rate were compared among different preincubation methods in-vitro, after oocytes were fertilized in-vitro with Hanwoo sperm on BOEC monolayers. The motility of frozen-thawed sperm in BOEC co-culture group was significantly higher than controls, especially at 5 hours and 6 hours (p<0.05) of incubation, in sperm treatment medium without heparin and caffeine. The motility of frozen-thawed sperm in BOEC co-culture group was significantly higher than controls, especially at 3 hours (p<0.05) and 6 hours (p<0.01), in sperm treatment medium containing heparin and caffeine. The motility of the attached( lower) sperm was significantly higher than the unattached(upper) sperm during co-culture with BOEC at all times(p<0.01 or p<0.05), except for 6 hours. After Hanwoo oocytes were fertilized in-vitro with the sperm that had been co-cultured with BOEC in sperm treatment medium containing heparin and caffeine, we determined the cleavage and blastocyst development rate, according to the preincubation methods. Both the cleavage and blastocyst development rate from 2 hour preincubation group were the highest, but significant difference was not recognized. These results show that BOEC plays an important role on sperm hyperactivation related to capacitation regardless of heparin and caffeine in sperm treatment medium. However, oviduct epithelial cell had no significant effect on the development of embryos after in-vitro fertilization in the presence of added heparin and caffeine in sperm treatment medium.

S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase-like protein 1 (AHCYL1), also known as IP3 receptor- binding protein released with IP3 (IRBIT), regulates IP3-induced Ca2+ release in the cytoplasm of cells and, therefore, is likely to be an important gene regulating various biological processes in the oviduct of chickens. However, the identification of the AHCYL1 gene in chickens has not been investigated. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to examine the tissue- and cell-specific expression of AHCYL1 gene in chicken organs, especially in reproductive organ, and determine functional actions of AHCYL1 in chicken oviduct development via estrogen. The results indicated that AHCYL1 mRNA is expressed in chicken reproductive organs and DES(diethylstilbesterol, a synthetic estrogen agonist) stimulates the cell specific expression of AHCYL1 in immature chicken oviduct. These results suggest that AHCYL1 is a novel estrogen-stimulated gene associated with development of the chicken oviduct. Next, in the present study, we show that inhibition of Erk1/2 can block DES-induced AHCYL1 expression. Also, we found that knockdown of AHCYL1 expression down-regulates expression of oviduct specific genes and AHCYL1 expression is regulated at the post-transcriptional level by specific miRNAs. These results strongly suggest that estrogen-mediated AHCYL1 gene expression plays a crucial role in growth, differentiation and function of the hen oviduct. Also, our results will be useful for understanding the fundamental mechanism(s) of estrogen action responsible for development of hen oviduct. This research was funded by the World Class University (WCU) program (R31-10056), Basic Science Research Program (2010-0013078) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology and by the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (No.PJ008142), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

The present study was performed to identify changes of plasminogen activator (PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) in porcine oviduct epithelial cells (POECs) during the estrous cycle. POECs obtained from ovary in pre‐ovulatory (Pre‐Ov), early to mid‐luteal stage (Early‐mid L) and post‐ovulatory stage (Post‐Ov). For the examine of PA activity, 1×105 fresh cells of POECs were cultured in DMEM/Ham F‐12 containing 10% FBS and 0.2% amphotericin under humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 in air and 38℃. The urokinase‐type PA (uPA) was observed at 7 days of POECs culture. PA activity was measured with culture prolonged of 0, 3, 6, 12 and 24 hafter culture of 7 days. The PA activity were high significantly (p<0.05) at 12 h of culture, but PA activity were decreased with culture periods increased. The PA activity in POECs of Post‐Ov stage were higher significantly (p<0.05) than that of Early‐mid L and Pre‐Ov stage. When PAI‐1 and PAI‐2 were added during the POECs culture, the PA were observed significant low activity (p<0.05). The PA activity and protein expression were decreased by PA inhibitor. This results suggest that PAI‐1 and PAI‐2 have a suppressive action on change of PA activity uring the estrous cycle of pigs. Specifically, this study using PA inhibitor was effect the PA activity and PAI expression in oviduct epithelial cells in pigs.

본 연구는 mSOF(modified synthetic oviduct fluid medium) 배양액을 이용하여 와 배양 소적에서 일본 흑우의 수정란 생산 효율을 개선하기 위하여 수행하였다. 난구세포가 부착된 미성숙 난자는 각각 단독 배양조건( 소적) 및 그룹 배양 조건 ( 소적)에서 실시하였고 배양액은 TCM-199의 기본 배지에 10% FCS, 0.02IU/ml FSH와 를 첨가하여 사용하였다. 배반포 단계로 발육한 수정란은 1.5M ethylene

본 연구는 소 난관 상피 세포를 채취 체외 배양을 실시하고, 이에 착상과 관련이 있은 IL-4를 첨가하여 배양액내의 임신에 관련된 호르몬들(P4, E2, TGF-)의 변화를 관찰함으로써, 소 난관 상피 세포와 착상과의 관계를 구명하고자 실시하였으며, 그에 따른 결과는 다음과 같다. 소 난관 상피 세포의 체외 배양시 IL-4 첨가에 의한 배양액내의 P4의 생산은 0.001 ng/ml의 IL-4를 첨가한 배양액의 P4의 농도는 배양 시간이 경과할수록 증가하

Porcine oviduct epithelial cells (POEC) are widely used in co-culture experiments to improve early embryonic development, in vitro fertilization in embryo transfer programs for domestic animals and in vitro maturation of immature germ cells. POEC were mechanically isolated and cultured in tissue culture medium 199. Cells grew continuously, and confluent monolayers were formed after 7 days. After forming confluent monolayer of epithelial cells, supernatant was collected as the condition medium for maturing round spermatids in vitro. Round spermatids were also separated mechanically and cultured in the POEC condition medium. In this study we observed that 20% of round spermatid cultured were matured into elongating spermatid after 24 h, and about 10% of round spermatid cultured showed complete elongation (elongated spermatid) within 24~48 h of in vitro culture. No further development was observed within 50~72 h and transformed cells lost their viability after 72 h. These preliminary findings suggest that the condition medium from POEC may be possible to overcome the round spermatid block by improving the milieu of culture system.

난관상피세포와 그 배양액에서 분비된 고분자 분획이 소정자의 수정능력에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 알아보고자 실시한 실험에서 다음과 같은 결론을 얻었다. 1. 난관상피세포배양액으로부터 MW 5 kDa cut-off bucket을 사용하여 탈염 및 농축을 실시, 단백질/고분자분획을 회수하고 이를 체외수정용 배양액에 첨가하고 난관상피세포 monolayer와 공배양을 통해 체외수정을 실시한 결과 고분자분획첨가 및 난관상피세포 공배양(OM+OEC)군이 고분자분획첨가

The embryogenesis stimulating activity(ESA) had been shown in co-culture of embryos with bovine oviduct epithelial cell(BOEC) and culture in BOEG-conditioned medium. The present study was undertaken to purify and quantify the embryotropic proteins and to determine the optimum concentration of the embryotropic protein for the proper development of embryos. In BOEC-conditioned medium, five major bands of proteins were detected(66, 53, 40, 32 and 24 kDa) by SDS-PAGE. From these proteins, 288pg of protein that had a 32kDa molecular weight was purified by gel filtration column and perfusion chromatography ion-exchange column. When purified protein was supplemented to the in vitro culture media at various concentrations in protein-free media, 2.5g /ml supplement group showed significantly higher rates of embryo development into morula /blastocyst stages than other groups(p<0.05). In conclusion, we purified 32kDa protein from BOEC-conditioned medium and this protein showed optimum embryogenesis stimulating effect at 2.5g /ml.

In vitro development of bovine embryos is affected by many factors such as energy substrates, amino acids, and some growth factors. It has been reported that mRNA of insulin, PDGF and their receptors are detected in cow embryos, and that some chelating agents such as EDTA and transferrin have beneficial role on mouse and bovine embryos. The author hypothesized that insulin, transferrin arid PDGF added to a culture medium increase in vitro development of bovine embryos by chelating toxic substance(s) or increasing cell growth and metabolism. Immature oocytes from slaughtered ovaries of Holstein cows and heifers were matured for 24 hours in a TCM199 containing 10% fetal calf serum, FSH, LH and estradiol with granulosa cells in vitro. Matured oocytes were coincubated with sperm for 30 hours in a modified Tyrode's medium (IVF). Embryos cleaved to 2- to 4-cell at 30 hours after IVF were selected and cultured in a 30-l drop of a synthetic oviduct fluid medium (SOFM) containing 0.8% BSA, Minimum Essential Medium essential and non-essential amino acids, and insulin, transferrin or PDGF for 9 days. Supplementation of a SOFM with insulin, and /or transferrin did not increase develop-mental rate to expanding and hatching blastocyst of 2- to 4-cell bovine embryos compared with control. The highest developmental rate to hatching blastocyst was shown when PDGF was added at the concentration of 10 ng /ml among the supplementing doses tested in the present study (p<0.05). Addition of PDGF without insulin to a SOFM could not increase embrye development, but combined addition of PDGF with insulin significantly increased (p<0.05) embryo development to hatching blastocyst (50%) compared with control (38%). In conclusion, insulin and PDGF supplemented to a SOFM may act synergistically and have beneficial effect on in vitro development of 2- to 4-cell bovine embryos matured and fertilized in vitro.