• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 1997

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$_1$ 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$_1$ 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 G$_1$phase, respectivley. The in vitro developmental rate to blastocyst stage with the S and G$_1$phase 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$_1$ 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$_1$ 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.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.103-110
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• 1997

The present study was carried out to investigate effects of gonadotropin, age of donor, day of estrus cycle gonadotropin injection started and season on embryo production after superovulation in dairy cattles. Embryo collection records were obtained from 177 embryo donor collections from 98 Holstein cows aged from 3 to 9 years during 4 years(1993~1996) at National Livestock Re-search Institute. Superovulation was induced by injections of 3 gonadotropins(FSH-P, FOLLTROPHIN-v* or SUPER-OV*) beginning on days 9 to 14 of the estrus cycle. Em-bryos were collected from donors using a nonsurgical technique on days 6 to 8 after insemi-nation. The results were as follows ;Number of total and freezable embryos per donor cow was affected by gonadotropin(P<0.01). The more number of total and freezable embryos wereobtained by use of FOLLTROPHIN-V (13.2, 7.4) or FSH-P (11.0, 5.7) than SUPER-OV* (5.0, 2.4). Age of donor, the day that gonadotropin was started or season didn't affect total or freezable embryos(P >0.05).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1574-1579
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• 2006

This study was performed to determine the developmental potentials of nuclear transfer (NT) embryos using life-span extended cells transfected with a foreign gene as donor cells. A life-span extended bovine embryonic fibroblast cell line was transfected with an expression vector in which the human type II collagen (BOMAR) and ear fibroblasts were used as a donor cell. Cytogenetic analysis was performed to analyze the chromosomal abnormality of donor cells. The fusion rate of 1.8 kV/cm for $15{\mu}sec$ given twice was significantly higher than that of other groups (p<0.05) and the embryos lysed were significantly higher after 1.8 kV/cm for $20{\mu}sec$ given once compared to other groups (p<0.01). The blastocyst development in the ear cell group was statistically significant compared to both BOMAR groups (p<0.01). Both BOMAR groups cultured more than 40 passages (>40 passages) had a lower number of chromosomes; however, fresh granulosa cell (GC) and BOMAR groups cultured less than 20 passages had normal chromosome numbers. Both >40 passages BOMAR groups had numerous obscure debris in metaphase spreads. The transfected foreign gene was expressed in all BOMAR groups, but not in the GC group. Based on these results, the lower developmental potential of NT embryos using life-span extended donor cells transfected with a foreign gene might be a cause of chromosomal abnormality in donor cells.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.361-371
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• 1989

This study was performed to investigate the effects of stage and quality of embryo, synchrony between donor and recipient and difficulty of transfer on pregnancy rate following non-surgical transfer of frozen-thawed bovine embryos. The results were as follows; 1. The overall pregnancy rate of this experiment was 63.4% and that of heifers(73.1%) was higher than that of cows(46.7%). 2. The pregnancy rates of recipients transferred with morulae, early blastocysts and blastocysts were 50.0%, 64.7% and 71. 4%, respectively. 3. The pregnancy rate of recipients transferred with good embryos(67.9%) was higher than that of recipients transferred with fair embryos(53.8%). 4. The pregnancy rates of embryos transferred to left and right uterine horn were 63.2% and 63.6%, respectively. 5. The pregnancy rate of recipients in estrous synchrony 0(76.2%) was higher than those of recipients in synchrony -1(55.6%) and +1(44.4%). 6. The pregnancy rate of recipients transferred with 2 embryos (71. 4%) was higher than that of recipients transferred with 1 embryo(61.8%). 7. The pregnancy rate of embryos transferred to uterine tip (72.0%) was higher than that of embryos transferred to uterine base(50.0%). 8. Ease of transfer was ranked to a scale of one to three on the basis of increasing difficulty. Transfers ranked as ease score 1 accounted for 77.8% of pregnancies and had higher pregnancy rate than ease score 2(66.7%) or 3(45.5%). 9. The pregnancy rate of recipients with excellent corpus luteum(CL) (70.0%) was higher than those of recipients with good CL(61.1%) or fair CL(61.5) %. In reviewing above results, it was considered that the factors such as embryo stage, embryo quality, estrous synchrony, corpus luteum quality, transfer site within uterus, recipient's parity and ease score affected the pregnancy rate after non-surgical transfer of frozen-thawed bovine embryos.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.259-267
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• 1997

To improve the efficiency of production of cloned embryos and animals by nuclear transplantation in the rabbit, the effect of cell cycle of donor nuclei and type of recipient cytoplasm on the in vitro developmental potential and production efficiency of offspring was determined. The embryos of 16-cell stage were collected from the mated does at 48h post-hCG injection and they were synchronized to G$_1$ phase of 32-cell stage. The oocytes collected at 14h post-hCG injection were freed from cumulus cells and then enucleated. One group of the enucleated cytoplasms was activated by electrical stimulation prior to injection of donor nucleus, and the other group was not pre-activated. The separated G$_1$phase blastomeres of 32-cell stage embryos were injected into the perivitelline space of recipient cytoplasms. After culture for 20h post-hCG injection, the nuclear transplant oocytes were electrofused and activated by electrical stimulation and the fused nuclear transplant embryos were co-cultured for 120h and the nuclear transplant embryos developed to blastocyst stage were stained with Hoechst 33342 dye and their blastomeres were counted. Some of the nuclear transplant embryos developed in vitro to 2- to 4-cell stage were transferred into the oviducts of synchronized recipient does. The electrofusion rate was similar between the types of donor nuclei and recipient cytoplasms used. However, the nuclear transplant embryos using G$_1$ phase donor nuclei were developed to blastocyst at higher rate(60.3%) than those using S phase ones(24.7%). Also, when non-preactivated oocytes were used as recipient cytplasms, the develop-mental rates of nuclear transplant embryos to blastocysts were significantly(P< 0.05) higher(57.1%) than those using preactivated ones(20.8%). The cell counts of nuclear transplant embryos developed to blastosyst stage were increased signficantly(P<0.05) more in the non-preactivated recipient cytoplasm(163.7 cells), as compared whit the preactivated recipient cytoplasm(85.4 cells), A total of 49 nuclear transplant embryos were tranferrid into 5 recipient does, of which two offsprings were produced from a foster mother 31 days after embryo transfer. these results showed that the blastomeres of G1 phase and non-preactivated oocytes might be utillzed efficiently as donor nuclei and recipient cytoplasms in the nuclear transplant procedure, thought the offspring production remained still low.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.73-82
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• 1995

large scale production of cloned embryos requires the technology of multiple generation nuclear transplantation(NT) using NT embryos as the subsequent donor nuclei. The purposes of this study were producing the second generation cloned rabbit embryos, and also to determine the electrofusion rate and in vitro developmental potential comparatively in the cloned embryos of the first and second NT generation. The embryos of 16-cell stage were collected from the mated does by flushing oviducts with Dulbecco's phosphate buffered saline(D-PBS) containing 10% fetal calf serum(FCS) at 47 hours after hCG injection In the first generation NT, the nuclear donor embryos were synchronized in the phase of Gi /S transition of 32-cell stage. The first generation NT embryos which were developed to 8-cell were synchronized in Gi /S transition phase of the following 16-cell stage and used as donor nuclei for second generation Synchronization of the cell cycle of blastomeres was induced, first, using an inhibitor of microtuble polymerization, colcemid for 10 hours to arrest blastomeres in M phase, and secondly, using a DNA synthesis inhibitor, aphidicolin for 1.5 to 2 hours to arrest them in Gi /S transition boundary. The recipient cytoplasms were obtained by removing the nucleus and the first polar body from the oocytes collected at 14 hours after hCG injection. The separated donor blastomeres were injected into the enucleated recipient oocytes by micromanipulation and were electrofused by electrical stimulation of three pulses for 60 $\mu$sec at 1.25 kV /cm in 0.28 M rnannitol solution The fused oocytes were co-cultured with a monolayer of rabbit oviductal epithelial cells in M-199 solution containing 10% FCS for 120 hours at 39$^{\circ}C$ in a 5% $CO_2$ incubator. Following in vitro culture of the first and second generation cloned embryos to blastocyst stage, they were stained with Hoechst 33342 dye for counting the number of blastomeres by fluorescence microscopy. The results obtained were summarized as follows: 1. The electrofusion rate was found to be similar as 79.4 and 91.5% in the first and second generation NT rabbit embryos, respectively. 2. The in vitro developmental potential to blastocyst stage of the second generation NT embryos (23.3%) was found significantly(p<0.05) lower, compared with that of the first generation NT embryos (56.8%). 3. The mean blastomeres counts of embryos developed to blastosyst stage following in vitro culture for 120 hours and also their daily cell cycles during the culture period were decreased significantly (p<0.05) to 104.3 cells and 1.33 cylces in the second NT generation, compoared with 210.4 cells and 1.54 cycles in the first NT generation, respectively.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.69-75
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• 1986

These studies were carried out to investigate the induction of superovulation, the synchroniration and the effect of the number of embryos transferred, the developmentai stage of embryos and the donor-recipient synchrony on pregnancy rate in cattle. The results obtained in these studies were as follows: 1. The number of oorpus leuteum(CL) and the embryos reoovered were higher in FSH treated animals than in PMSG treated (9.4 vs 8.1 and 6.1 vs 4.5) and showed the same trend in recovery rate (64.9% vs 55.6%). 2. Two shots of cioprostenol at 11 days showed significantly high no. of animals in estrus in order of crossbred, Holstein and Korean native cattle. No significant differencies were noted in the seoond shots groups. And the interval to estrus and response were shorter and better in second shot group than that in first shot group. 3. The pregnancy rate when additional one embryo was transferred after Al at estrus (52.8%) was higher than the group transferred one (32.8%) or two (36.9%) embryos. 4. The pregnancy rate of embryo in morula stage was better than that in blasto cyst stage (39.3% vs 32.5%). 5. The pregnancy rate in the recipients exhibited estrus later than the donor (66.7%) was the higher than those exhibited estrus (40.3%) or exhibited estrus before the donor (37.5%).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.759-764
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• 2001

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of activation timing, cell cycle and passage on the development of embryos produced by cumulus cell nuclear transfer in Hanwoo (Korean cattle). Nuclear donor cumulus cells were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum at $38.5^{\circ}C$ in a humidified atmosphere of 5% $CO_2$ in air. The 1~6 passages of serum deprived or actively dividing cumulus cells were isolated and used as donor cells. The in vitro matured oocytes were enucleated and then the isolated donor cells were introduced. One pulse of 180 volts for $15{\mu}s$ was applied to induce the fusion between karyoplast and cytoplast. The activation was done before or after the fusion. To activate, oocytes were treated with $10{\mu}M$ calcium ionophore for 5 min immediately followed by 2 mM 6-dimethylaminopurine for 3 h. The nuclear transfer embryos were cultured in $500{\mu}l$ of modified CRlaa supplemented with 3 mg/ml BSA in four well dish covered with mineral oil. After 3 days culture, culture medium was changed into modified CRlaa medium containing 1.5 mg/ml BSA and 5% FBS for 4 days. The incubation environment was 5% $CO_2$, 5% $O_2$, 90% $N_2$ at $38.5^{\circ}C$. There was no blastocyst formation when the nuclear transfer embryos were activated before the fusion, whereas, 29.9% of blastocyst formation was shown when the nuclear transfer embryos were activated after the fusion. When serum deprived and actively dividing cumulus cells were used as nuclear donor cells, the developmental rates to blastocyst were 38.5% and 40.6%, respectively. There was no significant difference between serum deprived and actively dividing cells in the developmental rates. The developmental rates to blastocyst according to 1~6 passages were 37.5~44.4%. However, there were no significant differences among passages. These results indicate that 1~6 passage cumulus cell irrespective of cell cycle could support development of nuclear transfer embryos activated after the fusion.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.652-658
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• 1998

The efficiency of nuclear transfer using donor embryos originated from ovum pickup(OPU) and activated recipient cytoplasts were examined for induction of twinning in Korean native cattle(KNC). After aspiration of follicle by OPU, regardless of the vacuum applied, we obtained same result in proportions of recovered cumulus-oocyte complex (COCs) with compact cumulus. Under electric stimulation(1.0kV/cm DC for $40{\mu}s$), most of activated oocytes proceed to anaphase II/telophase II within 3h(84.7%). In the treatment of oocyte activation, the preactivation which was performed before fusion had significant effect on the developmental rates to morula/blastocyst stage(9.4 vs 4.0%). In embryo transfer of nuclear transferred embryos, we obtained 2 twins from KNC recipients and 1 twin from a Holstein recipient. Our results showed that it is possible to obtain twins using nuclear transfer technique in KNC.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.105-109
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• 1993

This study was carried out to propagate Korean native cattle using beef recipients by embryo transfer. Seven Korean native cattle donors were superovulated with FSH 32mg and Embryos collected from donors were frozen and preserved in National Animal Breeding Institute. Frozen-thawed embryos were transferred to synchronized 40 beef recipients nonsurgically in Daekwanryeong Branch of National Animal Breeding Institute. The results obtained were as follows : 1. Total ova and transferable embryos per donor were 11.4 and 11.1 from 7 donors, respectively. 2. Among 40 recipients transferred with frozen-thawed embryos, 20 were pregnant(50.0%). 3. The pregnancy rate according to time from embryo thawing to transfer was higher when transferred within 3 hours than after 3 hours(57.6% vs. 14.3%). 4. The cow recipients showed slightly higher pregnancy rate than the heifer(53.3% vs. 48.0%). 5. Two grade embryos showed higher pregnancy rate than 1 grade(66.7% vs. 45.2%).