Hoop structure for wean to finish pigs: gender influences on carcass in a summer trial

The study was a wean to finish trial in a swine hoop structure at the university’s Animal Experimental Unit; on 12 of July, at the delivery to the slaughter house, the body weight was 114.25±1.74 kg for 20 barrows and 108.71±2.13 kg for 19 gilts (p = 0.049). The carcass mass was 87.87±1.68 kg for barrows and 83.69±1.94 kg for gilts (p = 0.112). Back fat at the last rib measurement was 14.51±0.62 mm for barrows and 12.28±0.54 mm for gilts (p = 0.011) and the eye muscle depth was 58.58±1.41 mm for barrows and 53.65±1.22 mm for gilts (p = 0.019). The carcass mass: body weight ratio was 76.83% ±0.5% for barrows and 76.92±0.5 for gilts (p = 0.112). Fifteen of 39 animals graded S (61.56% lean), 23 animals were graded E class (58.08% lean) and 1 animal was graded U class (53.4% lean). Barrows averaged 58.77% lean vs. 59.86% for gilts (p = 0.126) which does not support the initial hypothesis that there would be a gender effect during the trial. The results of the study suggest that quality carcasses can be obtained from swine grown in a hoop deep bedded production system

Antioxidant effect of vitamin C on porcine oocytes maturated in vitro

Cells are vulnerable to oxidative stress during in vitro culture systems. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of vitamin C addition in in vitro culture media on porcine oocytes maturation rate based on morphological changes. Porcine COC’s were matured according to their morphological class (class I, II and III) in two groups: control (M) and supplemented with vitamin C (0.5 mM, C) in TCM 199 HEPES (M2520) modification media with hormones (0.88UI/ml FSH, F8174) at 38.50C in 5% CO2 humidified air atmosphere for 44h. The rates of oocytes with cumulus cells expansion were higher with addition of vitamin C as compared to control group, with 7.83% (C1), 70.59% (C2) and 6.04% (C3). It could be concluded from this preliminary study that addition of vitamin C in in vitro maturation medium has a beneficial effect on porcine oocytes especially in C2 group

Boar freeze-dried semen evaluation using Spermac staining

Sperm freeze-drying is a new and alternative method to preserve male gametes in refrigeration or at room temperature. In order to protect sperm integrity special protection is required. The aim of our research was to examine the effect of vitamin C and rosmarinic acid on the spermatozoa integrity after freeze-drying the probes. We analyzed the acrosome reaction and the morphological aspects of boar spermatozoa form three different breed (Pietrain, Large White and Landrace) after rehydration. We observed that the highest percent of spermatozoa with intact acrosome and the least spermatozoa anomalies were in samples were rosmarinic acid was added. As preliminary results we could state that adding antioxidants protects spermatozoa from oxidative stress

Generating bovine embryos through ICSI

Through ICSI, competition between sperms and also sperm-oocyte interaction are avoided thus ICSI proving reliable when sperm is not suitable for IVF. In bovine, the limiting step is represented by low rate of sperm head decondensation subsequent ICSI. Intracytoplasmatic sperm injection allows avoiding many critical moments that may occur during normal or in vitro fertilization. Oocytes were obtained from ovaries from slaughtered cows. These were transported in 0.9% NaCl solution in isothermal bags at a temperature of 25-30 ° C. The ovaries were brought from the slaughterhouse within 2 hours. Harvesting of the oocytes was made through the aspiration method. After maturation, oocytes were fertilized using sperm that was prepared using Percoll method and then treated with TritonX. The volume of the TritonX solution that accompanies the sperma and which remains in the oocyte is extremely important given that by its action, TritonX removes the acrosome, thus releasing a rich enzyme content and facilitating the dehydration of the male pronucleus. Even though the number of 2 nucleus, 2 cells or 4 cells oocytes is inferior to the data found in the literature, compared to the results achieved last year in the assisted reproduction laboratory within CLC-HC Timisoara, it marks significant progress. At the 2 cells stage, there were several oocytes from group 1 (24.39% vs. 12.5%), while at the 4 cells stage there were 14.63% oocytes from group 1 and 25% group 2. The use of TritonX solution for sperm treatment as well as shortening the duration of ICSI execution allowed us to get encouraging results. The results obtained are inferior to those presented in the literature but are far superior to those we obtained last year when the ICSI technique was assembled. Achieving the two- and four-cell embryonic stages justifies us thinking that we are mastering the ICSI technique

Boar freeze-dried semen in medium with antioxidants evaluated based on DNA integrity after a long-time preservation

Sperm freeze-drying is considered an alternative method to preserve male gametes in refrigeration or at room temperature condition. In order to preserve sperm integrity special protection is required. The aim of our research was to examine the effect of vitamin C (0.5 mM ) and rosmarinic acid (105 μM) on the DNA spermatozoa integrity after freeze-drying and 36 months of preservation at refrigerator temperature. Our results indicates that more than 90% of DNA boar spermatozoa integrity is not affected by long-time preservation with small differences between experimental groups: with +0.59% higher DNA integrity in AR group from Duroc boar, with +2.83% higher DNA integrity in AR group from Landrace boar and with no differences regarding DNA integrity in group supplemented with vitamin C. The main conclusion of these preliminary results is that DNA integrity of boar freeze-dried semen is not affected by longtime preservation and it can be used further for intracytoplasmatic sperm injection technique

Bovine and swine parthenots generating through electrical stimultion of the oocytes

Electrical stimulation is an alternative to chemical activation to induce 2+ influx, responsible for the formation of pores in the cellular membrane. In order to activate the oocytes, electrical stimulation (E.S.) was performed on 30 oocytes derived from gilts (L1), sows (L2), heifers (L3) and cows (L4). We considered that the stage of development of four cells is eloquent for certifying the ES's division triggering and the results we are considering only refer to these parthenots. Following application of ES, oocyte activation occurred as follows: 6.6% at L1, 16.6% at L2, 20% at L3 and 46.6% at L4. It is obvious the higher maturation rate of oocytes from adult females as compared to young females (16.6% in sows versus 6.6% in gilts and 46.6% in cows versus 20% in heifers). The method of electrical stimulation of oocytes in the fusion chamber used in this paper is effective for activating the division in both bovine and swine oocytes. Activation of oocyte division following electrical stimulation is clearly superior when using oocytes from adult females. The electrical stimulation method used generated the upper division activation in cattle compared with the results obtained using swine oocytes

In vitro bovine embryos evaluation based on OCT4, SOX2, IGF1R and IGF2R expression level

In vitro production of bovine embryos comprises a lot of factors that can influence the successful of this technique, oxidative stress being one of them. These factors can influence the evolution of important development processes such as the maternal to zygotic transition and the embryonic genome activation. Adding antioxidants to in vitro culture media exerts the key role to reduce the effects of reactive oxidative species produced during assisted reproduction technique, influencing in a positive way also the early embryonic developement. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of antioxidant rosmarinic acid (105 μM), added to in vitro bovine oocytes maturation media, on the quality of embryo produced based on gene expression level of OCT4, SOX2, IGF1R and IGF2R. For this purpose, we used 35 bovine ovaries taken from slougtherhouse from which we obtain 202 cumulus-oocyte-complexes and 127 of them were maturated in vitro based on morphological aspects. The cumulus-oocyte-complexes were divided in two groups: control (M1, M2, M3) and with acid rozmarinic (AR1, AR2 and AR3). The levels of OCT4, SOX2, IGF1R and IGF2R were the highest in group AR1, embryos obtain from oocytes class I supplemented with rozmarinic acid, where OCT4 expression was 4.08, SOX2 was 27.66, IGF1R and IGF2R were 53.44 and 25.10