Significant heparin effect on bovine embryo development during sexed in vitro fertilization.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different heparin concentrations in the course of sexed in vitro fertilization (IVF), on bovine embryonic development and development to term following embryo transfer (ET). With a total of 9156 oocytes for IVF, sorted as well as unsorted sperm from four bulls had different heparin requirements for achieving the highest rate of development in vitro. However, when optimal heparin concentrations were used (40 to 80 µg/ml), the performance of X-sorted sperm (0.

Derivation of Rabbit Embryonic Stem Cells from Vitrified-Thawed Embryos.

The rabbit is a useful animal model for regenerative medicine. We previously developed pluripotent rabbit embryonic stem cell (rbESC) lines using fresh embryos. We also successfully cryopreserved rabbit embryos by vitrification.

Generation of human lactoferrin transgenic cloned goats using donor cells with dual markers and a modified selection procedure.

The objective was to use dual markers to accurately select genetically modified donor cells and ensure that the resulting somatic cell nuclear transfer kids born were transgenic. Fetal fibroblast cells were transfected with dual marking gene vector (pCNLF-ng) that contained the red-shifted variant of the jellyfish green fluorescent protein (LGFP) and neomycin resistance (Neo) markers. Cell clones that were G418-resistant and polymerase chain reaction-positive were subcultured for several passages; individual cells of the clones were examined with fluorescence microscopy to confirm transgenic integration.

Hybrid expression cassettes consisting of a milk protein promoter and a cytomegalovirus enhancer significantly increase mammary-specific expression of human lactoferrin in transgenic mice.

It is very important to develop an effective, specific, and robust expression cassette that ensures a high level of expression in the mammary glands. In this study, we designed and constructed a series of mammary gland-specific vectors containing a complex hybrid promoter/enhancer by utilizing promoter sequences from milk proteins (i.e.