Enhancement of bovine oocyte fertilization in vitro with a bovine oviductal specific glycoprotein.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a partially purified bovine oviductal glycoprotein (bOGP) on fertilization rates of bovine oocytes. The effect of albumin (control protein) or bOGP at 100 micrograms ml-1 during the 16-18 h fertilization period was evaluated in a standard IVF system using a sperm concentration between 0.5 and 0.

Established cell lines and their conditioned media support bovine embryo development during in-vitro culture.

These experiments were conducted to evaluate the ability of different somatic-cell monolayers or conditioned medium from somatic cells for supporting bovine embryo development in vitro. In the first experiment, bovine embryos (2- to 4-cells) were allocated randomly to a control (medium 199 with 10% fetal bovine serum and antibiotics) group or co-cultured with bovine oviduct epithelial (BOEC), buffalo rat liver (BRL), Madin Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) or African green monkey kidney (Vero) cells. In the second experiment, bovine embryos (1-cell) were allocated randomly to the following groups: control medium or conditioned medium from BOEC, BRL, MDBK and Vero monolayers.