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Nonlactating Holstein and Jersey cows (n = 24) were superovulated and ovarian follicular development was monitored by transrectal ultrasound during the period after embryo recovery. Luteolysis was induced by two injections of prostaglandin F(2)alpha (PGF; 25 mg Lutalyse; 12-h interval) at specific times after superovulatory induced estrus (Treatment 1, Day 9; Treatment 2, Day 12; Treatment 3, Day 17; Treatment 4, Day 25; superovulatory estrus = Day 0 of Cycle 1). Follicular development was monitored during Cycle 1 before and after PGF injection and continued through the ensuing estrous cycle (Cycle 2). Superovulation led to more than one embryo collected in 14 cows (mean = 8.71 embryos: positive superovulatory response [PSR] cows), while 10 cows were not successfully superovulated (mean = 0.1 embryo; negative superovulatory response [NSR] cows). These cows differed in terms of number of unovulated follicles detected at embryo collection (4.21 vs 17.2, PSR vs NSR) and plasma progesterone during the superovulatory estrous cycle (32.3 ng/ml PSR vs 8.6 ng/ml NSR). Follicular development during Cycle 1 started sooner in NSR than in PSR cows (day by class by response P

A cDNA microarray resource has been developed with the goal of providing integrated functional genomics resources for cattle. The National Bovine Functional Genomics Consortium’s (NBFGC) expressed sequence tag (EST) collection was established in 2001 to develop resources for functional genomics research. The NBFGC EST collection and microarray contains 18,263 unique transcripts, derived from many different tissue types and various physiologically important states within these tissues. The NBFGC microarray has been tested for false-positive rates using self-self hybridizations and was shown to yield robust results in test microarray experiments. A web-accessible database has been established to provide pertinent data related to NBFGC clones, including sequence data, BLAST results, and ontology information. The NBFGC microarray represents the largest cDNA microarray for a livestock species prepared to date and should prove to be a valuable tool in studying genome-wide gene expression in cattle.

Establishment and maintenance of pregnancy in the pig involves intricate communication between the developing conceptuses and the maternal endometrium. This process occurs during trophoblast elongation which is spaciotemporally associated with conceptus synthesis and release of IL1B concomitant with pregnancy-specific endometrial up-regulation of IL-1 receptors, providing the potential for activation of the transcription factor, NFKB. The objective of the current investigation was to determine changes in expression and cellular localization of NFKB and associated factors during the estrous cycle and early pregnancy in the pig. In situ hybridization was used to localize changes in PGR, ESR1, and TNFRSF11A during the peri-implantation period. Quantitative RT-PCR was utilized to demonstrate gene expression changes for NFKB1, RELA, TNFRSF11A, TLR4, NFKBIA and NFKBIB. Transcription factor ELISA demonstrated an overall increase in RELA during the peri-implantation period in both cyclic and pregnant gilts. While the presence of TNFSF11A and TLR4 were both detected, TLR4 expression changes were temporally associated with NFKB expression and activation. Collectively, these data demonstrate that NFKB activation may occur during the period of uterine receptivity in both the cyclic and pregnant endometrium.

Fatty acid (FA) profile is a crucial factor in defining milk properties and quality. Increasing attention is placed on those FA having a positive role on human health, such as polyunsaturated FA (PUFA), oleic acid, vaccenic acid and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). In the present work, the FA profile obtained from gas-chromatographic analysis of 703 individual milk samples (289 cows, 214 buffaloes and 200 ewes), were used to evaluate the suitability of principal component (PC) analysis (PCA) to investigate differences in milk FA profile among these species. Thirty-six FA were analyzed by PCA. The first and second PC (PC1 and PC2) accounted for 51% of the total variability (30%, 21%, for PC1, PC2, respectively). Elements of eigenvector of PC1 were positively associated with few FA, including C16:0 (0.50), the most abundant FA in milk of the 3 species (~29.3% of FA). Among those negatively correlated with PC1, some relevant FA for human health were retrieved: C18:1t11 (−0.75), CLAc9t11 (−0.79), C18:3n-3 (−0.76), EPA (−0.81) and DPA (−0.89). Negative correlations with PC2 were observed, in general, for medium chain FA (e.g., C15:0, C16:0), whereas long chain FA (e.g., C18:1 isomers, C18:2n-6 and other PUFA) exhibited positive values. Score values of PC1 and PC2 allowed the description of the relationship among animals based exclusively on the milk FA profile, revealing a clear discrimination of the 3 species: PC1 discriminated ewes milk from that of cows and buffaloes, whereas, PC2 was able to discriminate cows from buffaloes, with ewes showing intermediate values. In general, the use of PCA evidenced as a great part of variance of FA profile of ruminants (PC1) is related to the distinction between small or large ruminants, also evidencing higher amount of beneficial FA for ewes. An important part of variance (PC2) indicates as ewes milk FA has intermediate characteristics compared with cow and buffalo milk