Optimisation of the bovine whole in vitro embryo system as a sentinel for toxicity screening: a cadmium challenge.

Developmental toxicity testing could greatly benefit from the availability of an in vitro alternative model based on the use of animal embryos that have better human-like physiology than the currently-used alternative models. These current models are insufficient, as extrapolation of the results can be challenging. Therefore, an in vitro bovine embryo culture system was used to expose individual morulae to test substances, and to study developmental characteristics up to the blastocyst stage.

Perfluoroalkyl acid contamination of follicular fluid and its consequence for in vitro oocyte developmental competence.

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) have been shown to induce negative effects in laboratory animals and in vitro experiments. Also, PFAAs have been detected in human tissues and body fluids. The ovarian follicle constitutes a fragile micro-environment where interactions between hormones, growth factors, the oocyte and surrounding somatic cells are essential to generate a fully competent oocyte.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals in human follicular fluid impair in vitro oocyte developmental competence.

Background: Increased global industrial activity has exposed humans to a wide variety of chemical substances some of which, called 'endocrine-disrupting chemicals' (EDCs) or 'endocrine disruptors', can disrupt the endocrine system in the body. The ovarian follicle is a very fragile micro-environment where interactions between hormones, growth factors, the oocyte and its surrounding somatic cells are essential to generate a fully competent oocyte. In vitro experiments suggest that EDCs can disturb this finely tuned balance, but very scarse in vivo data are available to confirm this assumption.

Occurrence of endocrine disrupting compounds in tissues and body fluids of Belgian dairy cows and its implications for the use of the cow as a model to study endocrine disruption.

The reproductive performance of high producing dairy cows has dropped severely throughout the last decades. It has already been suggested that the presence of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in the environment could be one of the reasons for this declining fertility. Reliable data concerning tissue and body fluid concentrations of these chemicals are thus crucial, but currently only scarcely available.