Project description:Infertility and subfertility represent major problems in domestic animals and humans, and the majority of embryonic loss occurs during the first month of gestation that involves pregnancy recognition and conceptus implantation. The critical genes and physiological pathways in the endometrium that mediate pregnancy establishment and success are not well understood. In Study One, 270 predominantly Angus heifers were classified based on fertility using four rounds of serial embryo transfer (ET) to select animals with intrinsic differences in pregnancy loss. In each round, a single in vitro-produced high-quality embryo was transferred into heifers on day 7 post-estrus and pregnancy was determined on days 28 and 42 by ultrasound and then terminated. Heifers were classified based on pregnancy success as high fertile (HF), subfertile (SF), or infertile (IF). In Study Two, fertility-classified heifers were resynchronized and bred with semen from a single high fertility bull. Blood samples were collected every other day from days 0 to 36 post-mating. Pregnancy rate was determined on day 28 by ultrasound and tended to be higher in HF (70.4%) and SF (46.7%) than IF (0%) heifers. Progesterone concentrations in serum during the first 20 days post-estrus were not different in non-pregnant heifers and also not different in pregnant heifers among fertility groups. In Study Three, a single in vivo-produced embryo was transferred into fertility-classified heifers on day 7 post-estrus. The uteri were flushed on day 14 to recover embryos, and endometrial biopsies were obtained from the ipsilateral uterine horn. Embryo recovery rate and conceptus length and area were not different among the heifer groups. RNA was sequenced from the day 14 endometrial biopsies of pregnant HF, SF and IF heifers (n=5 per group) and analyzed by edgeR robust analysis. There were 26 differentially expressed genes (DEG) in the HF compared to SF endometrium, 12 DEG for SF compared to IF endometrium, and 3 DEG between the HF and IF endometrium. Many of the DEG encoded proteins involved in immune responses and are expressed in B cells. Results indicate that pre-implantation conceptus survival and growth to day 14 is not compromised in SF and IF heifers. Thus, the observed difference in capacity for pregnancy success in these fertility-classified heifers is manifest between days 14 and 28 when pregnancy recognition signaling and conceptus implantation must occur for the establishment of pregnancy.

Project description:Infertility and subfertility represent major problems in domestic animals and humans, and the majority of embryonic loss occurs during the first month of gestation that involves pregnancy recognition and conceptus implantation. The critical genes and physiological pathways in the endometrium that mediate pregnancy establishment and success are not well understood. In Study One, 270 predominantly Angus heifers were classified based on fertility using four rounds of serial embryo transfer (ET) to select animals with intrinsic differences in pregnancy loss. In each round, a single in vitro-produced high-quality embryo was transferred into heifers on day 7 post-estrus and pregnancy was determined on days 28 and 42 by ultrasound and then terminated. Heifers were classified based on pregnancy success as high fertile (HF), subfertile (SF), or infertile (IF). In Study Two, fertility-classified heifers were resynchronized and bred with semen from a single high fertility bull. Blood samples were collected every other day from days 0 to 36 post-mating. Pregnancy rate was determined on day 28 by ultrasound and tended to be higher in HF (70.4%) and SF (46.7%) than IF (0%) heifers. Progesterone concentrations in serum during the first 20 days post-estrus were not different in non-pregnant heifers and also not different in pregnant heifers among fertility groups. In Study Three, a single in vivo-produced embryo was transferred into fertility-classified heifers on day 7 post-estrus. The uteri were flushed on day 14 to recover embryos, and endometrial biopsies were obtained from the ipsilateral uterine horn. Embryo recovery rate and conceptus length and area were not different among the heifer groups. RNA was sequenced from the day 14 endometrial biopsies of pregnant HF, SF and IF heifers (n=5 per group) and analyzed by edgeR robust analysis. There were 26 differentially expressed genes (DEG) in the HF compared to SF endometrium, 12 DEG for SF compared to IF endometrium, and 3 DEG between the HF and IF endometrium. Many of the DEG encoded proteins involved in immune responses and are expressed in B cells. Results indicate that pre-implantation conceptus survival and growth to day 14 is not compromised in SF and IF heifers. Thus, the observed difference in capacity for pregnancy success in these fertility-classified heifers is manifest between days 14 and 28 when pregnancy recognition signaling and conceptus implantation must occur for the establishment of pregnancy. Endometrial biopsies were subjected to RNA sequencing from high fertile (HF; n=5), subfertile (SF; n=5) and infertile (IF; n=5) classified heifers on day 14 of pregnancy.

Project description:Compairsion of transcriptional profiles of heart and skeletal muscle tissue of fetal rhesus monkey exposed to maternal Bisphenol A or vehicle during early or late gestaion. Maternal exposure to the endocrine disrupting chemical, bisphenol A (BPA) affects the development of multiple organ systems in rodents and monkeys. However, effects of BPA exposure on cardiac and skeletal muscle development have not been assessed. Given that maternal BPA crosses placenta and reaches developing fetus, examining the physiological consequences of gestational exposure during development is of research significance. Therefore, we evaluate the effects of daily, oral BPA exposure of pregnant rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) on the fetal heart and skeletal muscle transcriptome. Pregnant monkeys were administered daily oral doses (400 M-BM-5g/kg body weight) of BPA during early (50 M-bM-^@M-^S100 M-BM-1 2 days post conception, dpc) or late (100 M-BM-1 2 dpc - term), gestation. At the end of treatment, fetal heart tissues; left ventricle (LV), right ventricle (RV), left atrium (LA), right atrium (RA) and skeletal muscle; biceps femoris (BFM), were collected. Transcriptome expression was assessed using genome-wide microarray in each of the tissues and compared paired-wise between the BPA and matched control fetuses. Our results show that maternal BPA exposure alters transcriptional profile of several coding and non-coding genes in fetal heart and skeletal muscle. Pregnant rhesus monkey were administered a daily oral dose of 400 M-NM-<g/kg. body weight of Bisphenol A (BPA) or vehicle (CON) either during early (50M-bM-^@M-^S100 M-BM-1 2 days) or late (100 M-BM-1 2 daysM-bM-^@M-^Sterm) gestation. Gene expression profiles of each of the heart chambers (left ventricle, LV; right ventricle, RV; left atrium, LA; and right atrium, RA) and skeletal muscle (biceps femoris, BFM) were analyzed using microarrays and compared between the BPA exposed and matched control fetuses. A total of 12 samples were analyzed for each tissue; LV, RV, LA, RA and BFM. This includes 6 samples at each time period (early vs. late gestation) and 3 biological replicates for each treatment (BPA, n=3; control, n=3).

Dataset Information

Gene expression data in heifers with persistently infected (PI) or transiently infected (TI) fetuses.

Publications

Persistent fetal infection with bovine viral diarrhea virus differentially affects maternal blood cell signal transduction pathways.

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