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This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary fat inclusion to create two energy levels on reproductive performance, milk compositions and blood profiles in lactating sows. Twenty-four multiparous sows were randomly assigned to four treatments according to a 2×2 factorial arrangement. Two energy levels (3365 and 3265 kcal/kg) were created by supplementing different fat levels (high and low). Higher energy level resulted in less (P

The effects of energy and lysine intake during late gestation and lactation on the reproductive performance of primiparous sows were evaluated using 36 gilts. Sows were allocated to six dietary treatments according to a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement and each treatment had six replicates. Three energy levels [low (EL), medium (EM) and high (EH)] and two lysine levels [low (LL) and high (HL)] were used. Gilts with HL intake had more weight (P = 0.004) and backfat thickness (P = 0.047) gain during gestation. Similar changes in sow body conditions were observed during lactation. HL intake resulted in higher litter birth weight (P = 0.001), weaning weight (P < 0.001) and growth rate (P < 0.001) and shortened wean-to-estrus interval (P= 0.001). Energy intake influenced the fat and lactose content while lysine intake influenced the total solids and protein content in milk and colostrum. Gilts with HL had higher insulin and lower creatinine levels during post farrowing and weaning, while triglyceride concentration at weaning increased with increasing of energy intake. The basal and pulses of LH were also influenced by lysine intake. In conclusion, higher lysine intake than those recommended by National Research Council (1998) could improve performance during late gestation and lactation in primiparous sows. Key words: Energy, lysine, gestation, lactation, sows

We attempted to control the nuclear remodelling of somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos (NTs) and examined their subsequent development and DNA methylation patterns in pigs. Porcine foetal fibroblasts were fused to enucleated oocytes treated with either 5 mM caffeine for 2.5 h or 0.5 mM vanadate for 0.5 h. After activation, NTs were cultured in vitro for 6 days to examine their development. The nuclear remodelling type of the reconstituted embryos was evaluated 1 h after fusion. Methylated DNA of in vitro-fertilised (IVF) embryos and NTs at various developmental stages and of donor cells was detected using a 5-methylcytosine (5-MeC) antibody. Caffeine-treated NTs induced premature chromosome condensation at a high rate (PPPPin vitro development and the methylation status of NTs in relation to nuclear reprogramming.

Low-temperature (∼200 °C) molecular beam epitaxy of Ge-rich Ge1−x−ySiyCx alloys grown on Si(100) have been investigated by in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction, ex situ x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Raman scattering, and ellipsometry. The Si contents were either ∼20 or ∼40 at % and the C concentrations were nominally varied from zero up to ∼8 at %. Selected samples were annealed in an Ar ambient at 750 °C to evaluate the stability of the thin films. With increasing C concentration, the epitaxial growth mode changes from two-dimensional (2D) layer growth to 3D island growth. Under the growth conditions studied, the GeSiC films have a tendency to form planar defects, whose density increases with increasing C and Si concentrations. The x-ray diffraction data show that the lattice parameter decreases with increasing C concentration. It is estimated that a maximum of ∼2–3 at % C is substitutionally incorporated into these films. Raman spectra of the alloy films show that t...

Low-temperature (∼200 °C) molecular beam epitaxy of Ge1−xCx alloys grown on Si(100) have been extensively investigated by in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction, ex situ x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. Carbon concentrations were nominally varied from 0 up to ∼10 at. %. Selected samples were annealed in an Ar ambient at 750 °C to evaluate the stability of the thin films. A few films were also grown on Ge substrates. With increasing C concentration, the epitaxial growth mode changes from two dimensional layer growth to three dimensional island growth. The surface has a tendency to facet along {311} planes under certain growth conditions. The microstructure shows an increase in planar defect density with increasing C concentration. The x-ray diffraction data show that the lattice parameter decreases with increasing C concentration and that a maximum of 1 at. % C is incorporated substitutionally in Ge. Raman spectroscopy shows no clear Ge–C signal thou...

The experiments reported here take advantage of the large number of in vitro matured and in vitro fertilized (IVM/IVF) bovine oocytes which can be produced, permitting the design of controlled experiments to establish a simple defined medium for the study of early embryo requirements and to further test this medium as a component of co-culture. A total of 1386 IVM/IVF oocytes were used to compare a simple medium (KSOM) with complex culture conditions used successfully for culture of bovine embryos. All experiments were extensively replicated factorials. In Experiment 1, KSOM was equivalent to the complex Menezo B2 medium in producing blastocysts from IVM/IVF produced embryos and was superior to Menezo B2 medium when both were used with buffalo rat liver cells (BRLC), yielding 25% vs 8% blastocysts, respectively (P

The hydrolytic activities and specificities of gel-entrapped C. cylindracae lipase (CCL) and R. arrhizus lipase (RAL) toward olive oil and tributyrin were investigated. Lipases in hydrophobic gels with the longest chain lengths generally displayed highest activity. The optimal temperature was 30-35 o C for free and 37-40 o C for gel-entrapped lipases. The ratio of the activity on tributyrin to that of olive oil (expressed as T/O ratio), an indicator of substrate specificity, incresed from 0.3 for free lipases to 12.3±2.3 for CCL lipase in ENTP-2000-formed gel and 16.2±0.3 for RAL lipase in ENTP-4000-formed gel

Twenty-four multiparous sows were used to investigate the effects of dietary glucose inclusion on reproductive performance, milk compositions, blood metabolites and hormones during lactation. The sows were randomly assigned to four treatments and each treatment had six replicates (sows). The diets were added with 0%, 1%, 3% or 5% glucose at the expense of corn and fed to sows for 24 days. The loss of backfat thickness during lactation was quadratically decreased (p = 0.008) and the wean-to-oestrus interval was shortened (linear, p = 0.013; quadratic, p = 0.009) with increasing levels of dietary glucose supplementation. The reproductive performance was not affected (p0.05) by different dietary glucose contents. Increased concentrations of total solid and fat in milk were noted (p0.05), whereas there was no difference on colostrum compositions. With increasing levels of dietary glucose inclusion, the concentrations of blood urea nitrogen (p = 0.004) and glucose (p = 0.029) were linearly increased at weaning. The concentrations of insulin were increased at post-farrowing (linear, p = 0.027; quadratic p = 0.013) and weaning (linear, p = 0.029; quadratic, p = 0.017), respectively. Furthermore, the pulses of insulin and FSH at weaning were linearly (p = 0.049) and quadratically (p = 0.015) increased with the increasing levels of dietary glucose inclusion. In conclusion, this study indicated that inclusion of 3% glucose in lactating diet could reduce backfat loss, increase milk fat and have no negative effect on reproductive performance in multiparous sows.

The aim of the present study was to elucidate the fundamental mechanism of bovine oviduct epithelial cell (BOEC) co-culture on developmental capacity of bovine in vitro oocyte maturation/in vitro fertilization (IVM/IVF) embryos. We examined the effects of astaxanthin against nitric oxide-induced oxidative stress on cell viability by MTT assay, lipid peroxidation (LPO) by using thiobarbituric acid (TBA) reaction for malondialdehyde (MDA) and the expression of antioxidant genes (CuZnSOD, MnSOD and Catalase) or apoptosis genes (Bcl-2, Caspase-3 and Bax) by RT-PCR in BOEC. We also evaluated the developmental rates of bovine IVM/IVF embryos co-cultured with BOEC pre-treated with astaxanthin (500 μM) in the presence or absence of sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 1000 μM) for 24 h. Cell viability in BOEC treated with SNP (50-2000 μM) lowered, while astaxanthin addition (50-500 μM) increased it in a dose-dependent manner. Cell viability in astaxanthin plus SNP (1000 μM) gradually recovered according to the increase in astaxanthin additions (100-500 mM). The LPO in astaxanthin group (50-500 μM) gradually decreased in a dose dependent manner and among SNP or astaxanthin plus SNP group, SNP alone and astaxanthin (50 μM) plus SNP shown a significant increase than other groups (p 0.05). Expression of apoptosis or antioxidant genes was detected by RT-PCR. Bcl-2 and antioxidant genes were detected in astaxanthin or astaxanthin plus SNP group, and Caspase-3 and Bax genes were only found in SNP group. When bovine IVM/IVF embryos were cultured for 6-7 days under co-culture system such as BOEC treated with astaxanthin in the presence or absence of SNP, the developmental ability to blastocysts in 500 μM astaxanthin group was the highest of all groups. These results suggest that astaxanthin has a antioxidative effect on cell viability and LPO of BOEC, and development of bovine IVM/IVF embryos due to the induction of antioxidant genes and suppression of apoptosis genes.

Melatonin, the major secretory product of the pineal gland, scavenges a variety of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in vivo and in vitro, indicating that melatonin is a potent function as an antioxidant. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of melatonin in the presence or absence of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) on sperm characteristics (motility, viability, survival rate, membrane integrity, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and mitochondria activity) and also to examine the developmental rates to the blastocysts stage of porcine oocytes fertilized in vitro with semen treated with or without melatonin (100 nM) in the presence or absence of H(2)O(2) (250 μM). The sperm were treated with melatonin in the presence or absence of H(2)O(2) for 3, 6, 9 and 12 h at 37°C and then analysed for the sperm characteristics. The porcine embryos were produced by in vitro maturation and in vitro fertilization (IVM/IVF) using semen treated with or without melatonin (100 nM) in the presence or absence of H(2)O(2) (250 μM) for 6 h. The semen characteristics, including motility, viability, survival rate, membrane integrity and mitochondria activity, were higher in the groups that were treated with melatonin in comparison to other groups, irrespective of incubation periods. Malondialdehyde levels in control, melatonin and melatonin + H(2)O(2) groups were lower than H(2)O(2) only group. A positive correlation was shown among motility, viability, survival rate and membrane integrity, but a negative correlation was observed between LPO and the other evaluation methods. The developmental rates to blastocysts of IVM/IVF porcine oocytes fertilized by semen treated with melatonin were significantly increased compared with any other groups, with the cell number of blastocysts shown to have a similar trend to the developmental rates. These results demonstrate that melatonin can improve the semen characteristics during in vitro storage and support the developmental ability of IVM/IVF embryos in pigs.

We aimed to determine the seroprevalence of poliovirus antibody in Korea by using the cell culture neutralization method recommended by the WHO. A total of 500 sera collected from children at eight primary schools in Kyunggi province were used for this study. We found that 82·2% of children were positive for all three types of poliovirus and antibody-positive rates for types I, II and III were 94·4, 96·6 and 86·8% respectively, indicating that seropositive rates for types I and II were considerably higher than for type III (P