Altrenogest during early pregnancy modulates uterine glandular epithelium and endometrial growth factor expression at the time implantation in pigs

This study evaluated the effects of supplying altrenogest from day 6-12 of pregnancy on the endometrial glandular epithelium, corpora lutea (CL) morphology, and endometrial and CL gene expression. A total of 12 crossbred females (Landrace × Large White) were used. The females were assigned to 4 treatments according to a random design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, with two categories (sow or gilt) and two treatments (non-treated and treated with altrenogest). On day 6 of pregnancy, animals were allocated to one of the following groups: non-treated (NT, n = 6; 3 sows and 3 gilts), and (T, n = 6; 3 sows and 3 gilts) treated daily with 20 mg of altrenogest, from day 6-12 of pregnancy. All animals were euthanized on day 13 of pregnancy. All CLs were individually weighed, and their volume were determined. The endometrial glandular density (GD), mean glandular area (MGA), and vascular density (VD) were determined by histomorphometric and immunohistochemical analyses. Endometrium samples were collected and analyzed by qRT-PCR to evaluate the abundance of transcripts for VEGF and IGF-I. Females in the T group had higher MGA (P < 0.05) compared to the NT group. There was no effect of treatment on GD or VD for both experimental groups. Sows in the T group had augmented expression of IGF-I (P < 0.05). Progestagen had no detrimental effect on CL morphology. In conclusion, altrenogest improves the uterine environment during the peri-implantation period in pigs without compromising corpora lutea development

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Altrenogest Supplementation during Early Pregnancy Improves Reproductive Outcome in Pigs

Progesterone plays an important role in initial conceptus development and in a successful pregnancy, but results related to progesterone or its analogues (altrenogest) supplementation in early pregnancy of pigs are conflicting. The present study evaluated the effects of altrenogest supplementation in sows during days 6 and 12 of pregnancy on reproductive performance. On day 6 of pregnancy, 301 females were allocated at random to one of the following treatments: CON (Control: non-supplemented females, n = 163) or ALT (females daily supplemented with 20 mg of altrenogest, orally, from day 6 to 12 of pregnancy, n = 138). Ovulation was considered as occurred at 48 h after the first estrus detection to standardize the first day of pregnancy. The supplementation increased the number of total piglets born (ALT: 17.3 &plusmn; 0.4; CON: 16.6 &plusmn; 0.4), piglets born alive (ALT: 15.6 &plusmn; 0.4; CON: 14.8 &plusmn; 0.3), and placenta weight (ALT: 4.2 &plusmn; 0.1; CON: 3.8 &plusmn; 0.1) and decreased the stillbirth rate (ALT: 5.9 &plusmn; 0.6; CON: 7.6 &plusmn; 0.6) and the number of piglets born weighing less than 800 g (ALT: 6.6 &plusmn; 0.6; CON: 8.0 &plusmn; 0.6), without impairment on farrowing rate. These results demonstrated that altrenogest supplementation on swine females between days 6 and 12 of pregnancy may be used to improve reproductive performance

Estrus Synchronization of Replacement Gilts Using Estradiol Cipionate and PGF2&alpha; and Its Effects on Reproductive Outcomes

In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of using estrogen-induced prolonged luteal function followed by prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2&alpha;) treatment to synchronize estrus in gilts. On day12 of the estrus cycle (D0 = first day of standing estrus), 52 gilts were assigned at random to two experimental groups: non-treated gilts (CON, n = 22), serving as controls, and prolonged luteal function group (CYP, n = 30), receiving a single treatment with 10 mg of estradiol cypionate intramuscularly Starting on day 12, blood samples were collected for estradiol and progesterone assays. Estrus detection started on day 17. Gilts from the CON group were inseminated at the onset of natural estrus. On day 28 CYP gilts were treated with PGF2&alpha; to induce luteolysis and inseminated at the onset of estrus. Gilts were slaughtered 5 d after the last insemination. A single treatment with estradiol cypionate prolonged luteal function in 90% of treated gilts. The duration of the estrous cycle was longer (p &lt; 0.0001) for CYP gilts compared to CON gilts. CYP gilts showed synchronized estrus 3.96 &plusmn; 0.19 d after induction of luteolysis. The conception rate was similar (p = 0.10) for CON and CYP gilts. No difference was observed in the embryo recovery rate (p = 0.18) and total number of embryos per female (p = 0.06). The percentage of unfertilized oocytes, fragmented embryos and viable embryos was similar among females from CON and CYP groups (p &gt; 0.05). The treatment of gilts with a single application of 10 mg of estradiol cypionate on day 12 of the estrous cycle was effective in prolonging luteal function and treatment with PGF2&alpha; resulted in synchronized estrus. Additionally, the synchronization protocol had no deleterious effect on fertility and embryonic development