Future of biomedical, agricultural, and biological systems research using domesticated animals.

Increased knowledge of reproduction and health of domesticated animals is integral to sustain and improve global competitiveness of U.S. animal agriculture, understand and resolve complex animal and human diseases, and advance fundamental research in sciences that are critical to understanding mechanisms of action and identifying future targets for interventions.

Equine endometrial development during late fetal and postnatal periods.

Equine uterine development, including endometrial histogenesis, begins prenatally and is completed postnatally. Little is known about this process in the horse. Uterine tissue was acquired from 38 foals, ranging in developmental age from gestational day (GD) 300 to postnatal day (PND) 180, for assessment of endometrial histogenesis.

Review: Maternal programming of development in the pig and the lactocrine hypothesis.

Maternal effects on development are profound. Together, genetic and epigenetic maternal effects define the developmental trajectory of progeny and, ultimately, offspring phenotype. Maternally provisioned environmental conditions and signals affect conceptus, fetoplacental and postnatal development from the time of conception until weaning.

Relaxin and the 'Milky Way': The lactocrine hypothesis and maternal programming of development.

Maternal effects on early postnatal development in mammals are mediated, in part, by milk-borne bioactive factors transmitted from mother to nursing offspring. The term 'lactocrine' was coined to describe this mode of signaling. Relaxin (RLX), one of a family of neohormones found in mammals, is detectable in milk from multiple species.

Development and Function of Uterine Glands in Domestic Animals.

All mammalian uteri contain glands that synthesize or transport and secrete substances into the uterine lumen. Uterine gland development, or adenogenesis, is uniquely a postnatal event in sheep and pigs and involves differentiation of glandular epithelium from luminal epithelium, followed by invagination and coiling morphogenesis throughout the stroma. Intrinsic transcription factors and extrinsic factors from the ovary and pituitary as well as the mammary gland (lactocrine) regulate uterine adenogenesis.

Neonatal lactocrine deficiency affects the adult porcine endometrial transcriptome at pregnancy day 13.

Reproductive performance of female pigs that do not receive sufficient colostrum from birth is permanently impaired. Whether lactocrine deficiency, reflected by low serum immunoglobulin immunocrit (iCrit), affects patterns of endometrial gene expression during the periattachment period of early pregnancy is unknown. Here, objectives were to determine effects of low iCrit at birth on the adult endometrial transcriptome on pregnancy day (PxD) 13.

Choroidal thickness measured using swept-source optical coherence tomography is reduced in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Objective: To compare choroidal thickness between patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and healthy controls measured using swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT).

Methods: The sample comprised 157 eyes of 94 T2D patients, 48 eyes of which had diabetic macular edema (DME), and 71 normal eyes of 38 healthy patients. Subfoveal (SF) choroidal thickness, and choroidal thickness at 500-μm intervals up to 2500 μm nasal and temporal from the fovea were measured using the SS-OCT.

Effects of colostrum, feeding method and oral IGF1 on porcine uterine development.

Nursing ensures lactocrine delivery of maternally derived, milk-borne bioactive factors to offspring, which affects postnatal development of female reproductive tract tissues. Disruption of lactocrine communication for two days from birth (postnatal day (PND) 0) by feeding milk replacer in lieu of nursing or consumption of colostrum alters porcine uterine gene expression globally by PND 2 and inhibits uterine gland genesis by PND 14. Here, objectives were to determine effects of: (1) nursing or milk replacer feeding from birth; (2) a single dose of colostrum or milk replacer and method of feeding and (3) a single feeding of colostrum or milk replacer, with or without oral supplementation of IGF1, administered at birth on aspects of porcine uterine development at 12-h postnatally.

Immunocontraception: Filamentous Bacteriophage as a Platform for Vaccine Development.

Background: Population control of domestic, wild, invasive, and captive animal species is a global issue of importance to public health, animal welfare and the economy. There is pressing need for effective, safe, and inexpensive contraceptive technologies to address this problem. Contraceptive vaccines, designed to stimulate the immune system in order to block critical reproductive events and suppress fertility, may provide a solution.

PHYSIOLOGY AND ENDOCRINOLOGY SYMPOSIUM: Postnatal reproductive development and the lactocrine hypothesis.

Maternal effects on development can program cell fate and dictate offspring phenotype. Such effects do not end at birth, but extend into postnatal life through signals communicated from mother to offspring in first milk (colostrum). Transmission of bioactive factors from mother to offspring as a specific consequence of nursing defines a lactocrine mechanism.

Maternal lactocrine programming of porcine reproductive tract development.

The lactocrine hypothesis for maternal programming of female reproductive tract development is based on the idea that non-nutritive, milk-borne bioactive factors (MbFs), delivered from mother to offspring during nursing, play a role in determining the trajectory of development with long-term consequences in the adult. Porcine female reproductive tract development is completed postnatally, and the period during which maternal support of neonatal growth derives exclusively from colostrum/milk defines a window of opportunity for lactocrine programming of reproductive tissues. Beyond nutrition, milk serves as a delivery system for a variety of bioactive factors.

Defining age- and lactocrine-sensitive elements of the neonatal porcine uterine microRNA-mRNA interactome.

Factors delivered to offspring in colostrum within 2 days of birth support neonatal porcine uterine development. The uterine mRNA transcriptome is affected by age and nursing during this period. Whether uterine microRNA (miRNA) expression is affected similarly is unknown.

Timing and duration of nursing from birth affect neonatal porcine uterine matrix metalloproteinase 9 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1.

Nursing for 2 d from birth supports neonatal porcine uterine and cervical development. However, it is not clear how timing or duration of lactocrine signaling from birth (postnatal day = PND 0) affects development of neonatal female reproductive tract tissues. Therefore, studies were conducted to determine effects of age at first nursing and duration of nursing from birth on specific elements of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)/tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP) system in uterine and cervical tissues at PND 2.

Clinical Applications of Dexamethasone for Aged Eyes.

The risk of severe eye problems has been found to increase significantly with age, particularly between the fifth and sixth decades of life. Cataracts, dry eye, neovascular age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusion (RVO) are very common and very different age-related ocular diseases that reduce the patient's quality of life. The rationale for using corticosteroids to treat anterior and posterior ocular segment diseases is driven by inflammation.

Prepubertal tamoxifen treatment affects development of heifer reproductive tissues and related signaling pathways.

Prepubertal exposure of the developing ovaries and reproductive tract (RT) to estrogen or xenoestrogens can have acute and long-term consequences that compromise the reproductive performance of cattle. This research examined effects of the selective estrogen receptor modulator tamoxifen (TAM) on gene and protein abundance in prepubertal ovaries and RT, with a particular focus on signaling pathways that affect morphology. Tamoxifen was administered to Holstein heifer calves (n=8) daily (0.

Age and Nursing Affect the Neonatal Porcine Uterine Transcriptome.

The lactocrine hypothesis for maternal programming of neonatal development was proposed to describe a mechanism through which milk-borne bioactive factors, delivered from mother to nursing offspring, could affect development of tissues, including the uterus. Porcine uterine development, initiated before birth, is completed postnatally. However, age- and lactocrine-sensitive elements of the neonatal porcine uterine developmental program are undefined.

Humoral immune responses against gonadotropin releasing hormone elicited by immunization with phage-peptide constructs obtained via phage display.

Phage display is based on genetic engineering of phage coat proteins resulting in fusion peptides displayed on the surface of phage particles. The technology is widely used for generation of phages with novel characteristics for numerous applications in biomedicine and far beyond. The focus of this study was on development of phage-peptide constructs that stimulate production of antibodies against gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH).

Effects of age, nursing, and oral IGF1 supplementation on neonatal porcine cervical development.

Nursing supports neonatal porcine uterine and testicular development, however, lactocrine effects on cervical development are undefined. Studies were conducted to determine the effects of i) age and the imposition of the lactocrine-null state from birth (postnatal day 0 (PND0)) by milk replacer feeding on cervical histology; ii) imposition of the lactocrine-null state for 2 days from birth on cervical cell proliferation, as reflected by proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunostaining; and iii) a single feeding of colostrum or milk replacer, administered at birth, with or without oral IGF1, on cervical cell proliferation and phosphorylated AKT (pAKT) and B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2) protein levels at 12 h postnatal. Cervical crypt depth and height of luminal epithelium (LE) increased with age by PND14, when both responses were reduced in replacer-fed gilts.

Nursing supports neonatal porcine testicular development.

The lactocrine hypothesis suggests a mechanism whereby milk-borne bioactive factors delivered to nursing offspring affect development of neonatal tissues. The objective of this study was to assess whether nursing affects testicular development in neonatal boars as reflected by: (1) Sertoli cell number and proliferation measured by GATA-4 expression and proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunostaining patterns; (2) Leydig cell development and steroidogenic activity as reflected by insulin-like factor 3 (INSL3), and P450 side chain cleavage (scc) enzyme expression; and (3) expression of estrogen receptor-alpha (ESR1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) A, and relaxin family peptide receptor (RXFP) 1. At birth, boars were randomly assigned (n = 6-7/group) to nurse ad libitum or to be pan fed porcine milk replacer for 48 h.

Bisphenol A regulation of testicular endocrine function in male rats is affected by diet.

There is concern that early-life exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may alter developmental programming and predispose individuals to obesity and reproductive anomalies. The present study was designed to determine if a high fat diet at sexual maturation moderates testicular toxicity occasioned by exposure to BPA during reproductive development. Therefore, male rats were exposed to BPA by maternal gavage (0, 2.

Uterine glands: development, function and experimental model systems.

Development of uterine glands (adenogenesis) in mammals typically begins during the early post-natal period and involves budding of nascent glands from the luminal epithelium and extensive cell proliferation in these structures as they grow into the surrounding stroma, elongate and mature. Uterine glands are essential for pregnancy, as demonstrated by the infertility that results from inhibiting the development of these glands through gene mutation or epigenetic strategies. Several genes, including forkhead box A2, beta-catenin and members of the Wnt and Hox gene families, are implicated in uterine gland development.