Artificial insemination in dromedary camels

Artificial insemination (AI) is an important technique in all domestic species to ensure rapid genetic progress. The use of AI has been reported in camelids although insemination trials are rare. This could be because of the difficulties involved in collecting as well as handling the semen due to the gelatinous nature of the seminal plasma. In addition, as all camelids are induced ovulators, the females need to be induced to ovulate before being inseminated.     

Artificial insemination in deer and non-domestic bovids

Artificial insemination technology has revolutionized the domestic cattle breeding industry and allowed for the dissemination of valuable genetics worldwide. This technology has been adapted for use in many other taxa for the conservation of threatened and endangered species, but its use for the genetic management of small populations of deer, antelope and other non-domestic bovids has met numerous challenges and limited success. In practice, adaptation of domestic bovine AI protocols to other artiodactylids for genetic management has been limited by: (1) a lack of understanding of species-specific reproductive characteristics; (2) the inability to minimize handling stress; (3) pregnancy losses; and (4) regulatory challenges in semen importation. To date, AI protocols have been developed for seven species of cervid and 14 species of non-domestic bovids; recent developments in this technology has allowed greater use of AI for dissemination of genetics in farmed deer species. However, despite decades of research in the use of assisted reproduction for the conservation of antelope and other non-domestic bovids, even this simplest technique has not been used repeatedly for genetic management.     

Artificial insemination in canids: a useful tool in breeding and conservation

Artificial insemination (AI) and semen freezing have become services available to dog owners worldwide, and the demand for services to freeze semen is increasing. In other canids such as the fox, the fur industry utilizes fresh or frozen semen to artificially inseminate vixens to produce pelts. Clearly, AI facilitates the use of a male to sire several females by diluting the ejaculate, increases breeding hygiene, and allows crossing between species with slightly different breeding seasons. The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) is currently considered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as one of most endangered canids. In captive populations of African wild dogs, semen has been frozen with encouraging results, using a standard cryopreservation protocol for domestic dogs, but successful AI has not been reported. In wolves, there is one report regarding the live birth of an offspring after intravaginal AI of a deslorelin-induced estrous female. In 2005, three Mexican gray wolf females were artificially bred by intrauterine insemination with freshly collected semen from unrelated males, and all females whelped. Artificial insemination may be vaginal, intrauterine or intratubal, and the semen may be fresh, fresh and chilled (diluted), or frozen-thawed, and the source of semen may be epididymal or ejaculated. In the domestic dog, the results are good to excellent for AI with all three types of processed semen when the source is ejaculated semen, whereas epididymal sperm still yields poorer results. Species differences in female physiology, as well as differences in the cryotolerance of the sperm from various canid species, warrant further research and development.     

Artificial insemination in marsupials

Assisted breeding technology (ART), including artificial insemination (AI), has the potential to advance the conservation and welfare of marsupials. Many of the challenges facing AI and ART for marsupials are shared with other wild species. However, the marsupial mode of reproduction and development also poses unique challenges and opportunities. For the vast majority of marsupials, there is a dearth of knowledge regarding basic reproductive biology to guide an AI strategy. For threatened or endangered species, only the most basic reproductive information is available in most cases, if at all. Artificial insemination has been used to produce viable young in two marsupial species, the koala and tammar wallaby. However, in these species the timing of ovulation can be predicted with considerably more confidence than in any other marsupial. In a limited number of other marsupials, such precise timing of ovulation has only been achieved using hormonal treatment leading to conception but not live young. A unique marsupial ART strategy which has been shown to have promise is cross-fostering; the transfer of pouch young of a threatened species to the pouches of foster mothers of a common related species as a means to increase productivity. For the foreseeable future, except for a few highly iconic or well studied species, there is unlikely to be sufficient reproductive information on which to base AI. However, if more generic approaches can be developed; such as ICSI (to generate embryos) and female synchronization (to provide oocyte donors or embryo recipients), then the prospects for broader application of AI/ART to marsupials are promising.     

Artificial insemination for the propagation of CANDES: the reality!

Conservation is about protecting and nurturing species so that they can survive, not only now, but also into the future. Ideally this means protecting genetically diverse populations and not simply breeding a few individuals. Unfortunately, this point is often overlooked by reproductive technologists, especially if they are more accustomed to working with humans, companion animals or agricultural species, where the goals are more usually directed towards obtaining offspring from particular individuals. This approach has tended to antagonise the conservation community, who are quick to develop an unreasonable suspicion of technological solutions, partly because they are unfamiliar with the scientific principles that underpin the reproductive technology. Unfortunately, this mutual failure to recognise that all parties are actually well meaning, has led to separate cultures that barely communicate with each other and thus fail to capitalise on the potential benefits that would come from a good working relationship. Notable successes with reproductive technology have only emerged where such relationships have been forged. In this review, we highlight, mainly for the benefit of the technologist community, the need to foster good working relationships with conservation managers and to recognise that the latest hi-tech approach to animal breeding is more likely to engender suspicion than enthusiasm.     

Social imaginaries: the literature of eugenics

This paper starts from a premise relating to the act of fictional writing about eugenics and the way it may be understood as the embodiment and enactment of social imaginaries. It proposes that literature (in the sense of fiction) frequently, if not habitually, expresses the underside of what is expressed in public discourse. That is, far from being the implement of state policy or intervention, it acts in counterpoint to the state, constituting a type of social fantasy in that it explores through the realm of the imagination what might happen. It becomes the arena for contestation, exploration, and nuancing as it essays how ideas from public, 'real' life, might transform when acted out. The paper considers two sorts of literary case. First it looks at that of 'na?ve' literature, harnessed unashamedly to a specific sociological discourse of eugenics. Then, using primarily Ibsen, it considers a subset, the case of literature that does not set out to be explicitly in the service of the cause of eugenics, but is appropriated and disseminated from a platform of eugenics. Lastly, taking the example of Unamuno's Amor y pedagogía (1902) the paper considers literature that exists in a quite different sphere of public awareness. It shows awareness of the arguments and precepts of eugenics and related beliefs and practices, but acts as a transitional space (in the terms of Winnicott) to enable such ideas to be entertained and thought about, without a requirement of acceptance or belief.     

Effect of sperm numbers and time of insemination relative to ovulation on sow fertility

We examined the effect of inseminating mixed parity sows (n = 231) once with fewer sperm at different times relative to ovulation. Lactation length was 19 days and sows received an IM injection of 600 IU equine chorionic gonadotrophin (eCG) 12 h before weaning. At 80 h after eCG injection, sows received an IM injection of 5 mg porcine luteinizing hormone (pLH). Predicted time of ovulation (PTO) was 38 h after pLH injection. Sows were assigned by parity to receive a single transcervical artificial insemination (AI) at either 6 or 24 h before PTO with semen doses containing either 2.5 or 1.25 × 10⁹ sperm. A positive control group of sows (n = 49) was subject to conventional AI 24 and 6 h before PTO. Detection of estrus was performed in the presence of a boar and only sows exhibiting estrous behavior at the assigned time of AI were included in the study. Farrowing rate for sows receiving 2.5 × 10⁹ sperm at 6 h before PTO was greater than that for sows receiving 1.25 × 10⁹ sperm at 24 h before PTO (85% versus 61%, P < 0.05). All other groups were intermediate. There was no effect of time of AI or sperm numbers on subsequent litter size. These data indicate that single insemination of fewer sperm may compromise sow fertility, even when performed transcervically, if not appropriately timed relative to ovulation.     

Artificial insemination of the American lobster (Homarus)

A technique has been developed for artificially inseminating freshly molted female lobsters (Homarus). Using the criterion that eggs were fertilized if they showed development of normal cleavage patterns, at least 49.5% of the inseminated females extruded fertilized eggs. Sixty-two percent of the fertilized eggs developed to the eyespot stage, and 26.6% of these subsequently hatched. Eggs were not fertilized in 7.7% of the extrusions. In 42% of the samples, it was not possible to establish whether fertilization had occurred because either samples were collected prior to initiation of cleavage or eggs were too poorly preserved to assess cleavage with confidence. It is probable that many of the eggs that were evaluated as equivocal were also fertilized. This technique should be valuable in the experimental and commercial aquaculture of lobsters and might be directly applicable to other crustaceans.     

案例在遗传与优生教学中的应用

"遗传与优生"课程是遗传学与优生学相结合的一门交叉性学科,是国内许多高校在教育教学改革中开设的一门通识课程。通过案例进行教学可以有效提升学生学习的积极性,收到较好的教学效果。文章针对"遗传与优生"课程教学中应用案例进行教学所应注意的问题进行了讨论。     

Beyond eugenics: the forgotten scandal of hybridizing humans and apes

This paper examines the available evidence on one of the most radical ideas in the history of eugenics and utopianism. In the mid-1920s, the zoology professor Ilia Ivanov submitted to the Soviet government a project for hybridizing humans and apes by means of artificial insemination. He received substantial financing and organized expeditions to Africa to catch apes for his experiments. His project caused an international sensation. The American Association for the Advancement of Atheism announced its fund-raising campaign to support Ivanov's project but gave it a scandalously racist interpretation. Ivanov's own motivation remained unclear, as did the motivation of those in the Bolshevik government who supported Ivanov until his arrest in 1930. This paper discusses three hypothetical reasons for Ivanov's adventure: first, hybridization between humans and apes, should it be successful, would support the atheist propaganda of the Bolsheviks; second, regardless of the success of hybridization, Ivanov would catch and bring to Russia apes, which were necessary for the rejuvenation programs that were fashionable among the Bolshevik elite; and third, hybridization, should it be successful, would pave the way to the New Socialist Man whose 'construction by scientific means' was the official purpose of the Bolsheviks. Ivanov's ideas were arguably important for the American proponent of reform eugenics, Herman Muller, and for the Soviet anthropologist Boris Porshnev.     

Artificial insemination in South American camelids and wild equids

An overview of the present status of the use of artificial insemination (AI) in South American camelids and wild equids is offered. Technical aspects of semen collection, dilution and cryopreservation have limited the development and use of AI in camelid and equid species. To-date, efficiency is low but progress has been made and viable offspring have been produced through the use of AI in domestic South American camelids using both fresh and frozen semen. The origin, composition, and function of the viscous component of camelid seminal plasma remain a mystery and an obvious area for future research. A better understanding of the normal constituents of seminal plasma will enable the rational design of semen extenders suitable for camelids. Post-thaw sperm viability is very low, and studies are needed to address questions of optimal freezing and thawing procedures as well as the insemination dose. The basis for differences in reported pregnancy rates with sexed and frozen semen in domestic equids, and the ultimate success of AI in wild equids will require continued research into the "stallion effect", extenders and cryoprotectants, optimal volume and number of spermatozoa, temperatures during handling, processing an transport, and insemination techniques. In both camelids and equids, research on domestic species under controlled conditions provides and excellent opportunity to develop effective semen handling techniques for application in wild and endangered species of the respective families.     

Pregnancy loss in heifers after artificial insemination with frozen-thawed,sex-sorted,re-frozen-thawed dairy bull sperm

The use of sex-sorted sperm by the dairy industry is often limited by the geographical distance between potential sires and the sex-sorting facility. One method that may be used to overcome this limitation is sex-sorting sperm that have been previously frozen, or transported to the sorting facility as cooled liquid semen. In this study the in vivo fertility of frozen-thawed, sex-sorted, re-frozen-thawed (FSF) and cooled, sex-sorted, frozen-thawed (CSF) bull sperm was determined after artificial insemination (AI) of Holstein heifers. Semen from two bulls was frozen in straws, or transported to the sorting facility in an egg yolk diluent at 5 °C over 24 h. Thawed or re-warmed semen was processed through a PureSperm^® density gradient, and sperm were sorted for sex and frozen (2 or 4 × 10⁶ sperm/straw). Synchronised heifers (n = 183) were inseminated with either non-sorted control sperm (Control; 20 × 10⁶ dose) or with FSF or CSF ‘X’ sperm (2 or 4 × 10⁶/dose). Pregnancy rates (detected at 7–9 weeks) after AI with control sperm were higher than with FSF or CSF sperm (57.4 vs. 4.1 and 7.3% respectively; p < 0.001). There was a significant difference between bulls (Bull 1: Control 63.0%, FSF 8.6%, CSF 10.0%; Bull 2: Control 45.5%, FSF 0%, CSF 4.8%; p = 0.001). Five out of six (83.3%) pregnancies produced with sexed sperm were lost after pregnancy diagnosis. The exception was one heifer inseminated with CSF sperm (2 million sperm dose), which produced a heifer calf. In the non-sorted control group, three pregnancies were lost (8.3%) and three stillbirths occurred (8.3%). The low fertility and high rate of pregnancy loss in the sexed groups, in addition to environmental influences, may be attributed to impaired sperm function caused by sex-sorting and re-freezing, leading to poor embryo quality or altered gene expression. More precise timing of insemination and higher sperm doses might improve the fertility of FSF sperm. Moreover, the in vitro function of double-frozen sexed compared with non-sorted sperm requires further investigation.     

人工饲养鲸类动物的繁殖

介绍多年来对鲸类动物在人工饲养条件下繁殖问题的研究成果,包括：雌雄性生殖器官的组织解剖,饲养和采精训练,人工饲养条件下的繁殖,孕豚护理,分娩和幼豚饲养。为推动我国鲸类动物的人工繁殖提供科学资料。     

Claiming respectable American motherhood: homebirth mothers, medical officials, and the state

Based on ethnographic research regarding public policy and grassroots organizing for midwifery in Virginia, this article explores how medical discourses around appropriate health care practices intersect with state discourses about what practices are considered "respectable" versus "pathological" for its citizens. In recent legislative debates about the legalization of direct-entry midwifery, medical officials have extended their criticism of midwifery and homebirth to mothers who resist state-sanctioned childbirth practices. This article examines how medical officials challenge the respectable mothering practices of homebirthers by linking them with women they deem pathological--child abusers, negligent mothers, and drug users--and placing them outside the cadre of "normal" American mothers who acknowledge the "logical" and "natural" superiority of biomedical childbirth practices. I also address homebirth mothers' responses, which assert that their political advocacy for midwives is a respectable mothering practice because they are responsible citizens who desire what they deem the best care for their children.     

Reproduction as spiritual kin work: Orthodoxy, ivf, and the moral economy of motherhood in greece

Bringing gender and kinship studies together with an anthropology of religion, in this article I demonstrate how urban Greek couples and clinical practitioners in the middle 1990s proceeded with in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the absence of government regulations, and did so with reference to cultural beliefs and social relations consistent with Greek Orthodox religious practice. Drawing on ethnographic observations at an Athens IVF clinic as well as on interviews with former patients, I argue that Athenian women, in particular, engage IVF as a kind of spiritual kin work, normalizing the use of medical techniques with reference to ideologies of motherhood that treat it as a woman’s moral achievement and as a source of womanly suffering. Since the period of ethnographic research described here, and despite disapproval of the Greek Orthodox Church, legislation regulating the use of IVF and other methods of medically assisted reproduction has become law. This article reconciles how the Church can officially reject medically assisted means of reproduction that Athenian users have normalized with reference to spiritual beliefs and practices.     

Lambing rates and litter size following carazolol administration prior to insemination in Kivircik ewes

The effect of carazolol on the ease of penetrating the cervix during artificial insemination, lambing rate and litter size was studied using 1.5–4.0-year old Kivircik ewes in an incomplete 3 × 2 × 2 experimental design. All of the ewes in this study were synchronized for oestrus by insertion of a progesterone impregnated vaginal sponge for 12 days and administration of 400 IU PMSG at sponge withdrawal. Three methods of service were compared: natural service, artificial insemination (AI) with fresh semen, or AI with frozen semen. Two times of insemination (fixed time AI versus AI at observed oestrus) were compared on the fresh and frozen AI treatments. The absence (control) or use of carazolol (carazolol; 0.5 mg/ewe i.m. 30 min before mating) was the third factor in the design and penetration of the cervix by the insemination pipette was assessed as shallow (<10 mm), middle (10–20 mm) or deep (>20 mm). Natural service ewes were only mated at observed oestrus. Consequently, the factorial design was incomplete and there were a total of 10 treatments each represented by 30 ewes. Natural service resulted in a significantly (P < 0.05) higher lambing rate and litter size (86%; 2.0 ± 0.05 lambs/ewe) than AI using fresh (65%; 1.6 ± 0.1 lambs/ewe) or frozen (40%; 1.4 ± 0.14 lambs/ewe) semen. For AI animals the lambing rate and litter size were not significantly different when service was at a fixed time (50%; 1.5 ± 0.12 lambs/ewe) or at observed oestrus (56%; 1.5 ± 0.12 lambs/ewe). Carazolol did not permit complete cervical penetration in any ewe. Deep penetration of the cervix at AI was achieved in 33% of untreated (control) and 48% of carazolol treated ewes (P < 0.05). However, the proportion of ewes in which penetration of the cervix and semen deposition was greater than shallow was similar for control (82%) and carazolol (85%), and lambing rate and litter size were similar for both treatments. Over the three service methods, the lambing rate was 56% for control and 63% for carazolol (NS) and litter size was similar for both treatments. It was concluded that the carazolol treatment used prior to natural mating or AI in this experiment did not improve lambing rate or litter size in Kivircik ewes.     

The sex reform movement and eugenics in interwar Poland

This paper focuses on the relations between a liberal group of sex reformers, consisting of writers and literary critics, and physicians from the Polish Eugenics Society in interwar Poland. It illustrates the paradoxes of the mutual co-operation between these two groups during the 1930s and analyses the reason why compulsory sterilisation was rejected by politicians. From the early 1930s two movements began to forge an alliance in Poland: the sexual reform movement which advocated freedom of the individual, and eugenics, which called for limiting the freedom of the individual for the collective good. This paper draws attention to several issues which emerged as part of this collaboration: population politics, the relationship between reformers, eugenicists and state institutions, and the question of how both movements--eugenics and sexual reform--perceived the question of sexuality, birth control and abortion. It will also focus on those aspects of their thinking that led to mutual co-operation.     

Fixed-time artificial insemination in red deer (Cervus elaphus) in Argentina

Synchronization of estrous and fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) was conducted during the reproductive season of 2008 (March–April) in a local red deer breeding farm in Argentina. Multiparous suckling hinds (n = 38) were artificially inseminated following hormonal treatment (intravaginal sponge containing 100 mg of medroxiprogesterone acetate). At the time of sponge removal (day 12) 250 IU of eCG and 500 μg of PGF2α were given to each hind. The FTAI was performed at 48–55 h after device removal with cryopreserved semen imported from New Zealand. Rectal-transcervical AI method (similar to that in cattle) was performed and semen was deposited within the uterine body (n = 28) or the cervix (n = 10). Pregnancy was diagnosed by means of ultrasonography 44 days after FTAI. The overall pregnancy rate was 36.8% (14/38). Percentage of does that became pregnant with intrauterine seminal deposition was 42.9% (12/28) whereas pregnancy rate in the hinds with intracervical AI was 20% (2/10; P = 0.27).     

Fertility after post-cervical artificial insemination with cryopreserved sperm from boar ejaculates of good and poor freezability

This study compared the field fertility outcomes in frozen–thawed (FT) sperm from boar ejaculates with different freezability (good, GFE/poor, PFE) while testing the reliability of the post-cervical artificial insemination (post-CAI) in FT sperm. The assay was conducted over eight months with 86 weaned sows being inseminated by post-CAI. Every ejaculate in a total of 26 from 15 Piétrain boars was divided into a refrigerated semen portion (FS; control treatment) and a cryopreserved portion (FT sperm), and the ejaculates were in turn classified as GFE or PFE in function of the sperm progressive motility and viability at 240 min post-thaw. As result, one of four possible treatments was randomly given to each sow: FS-GFE, FS-PFE, FT-GFE and FT-PFE. The number of pregnant and farrowing sows in FT-GFE did not significantly differ from those of FS control treatments. Contrarily, the probabilities of pregnancy were two times lower after inseminations with FT-PFE (P < 0.05) compared to FT-GFE, which indicates that ejaculates with high post-thaw sperm progressive motility and viability are more likely to result in pregnancies than those with poor in vitro sperm function. There were no differences in litter size or the risk of backflow among treatments. Further trials are required to determine the optimal volume and concentration of FT sperm in post-CAI to obtain a more reliable method for farmers interested in cryopreserved sperm.     

Reproductive consequences of a reciprocal chromosomal translocation in two Duroc boars used to provide semen for artificial insemination

Cytogenetic analysis of 58 boars at an artificial insemination (AI) centre revealed the presence of a reciprocal chromosome translocation, rcp(1;11)(q−;p+), in two Duroc boars. Pedigree analysis of these two boars suggested familial transmission of the chromosome rearrangement. The reproductive consequences of this translocation were determined in a herd of sows that had received semen doses from these and other boars. All sows underwent multiple AI, with different groups established retrospectively depending on the percentage of semen doses provided by the carrier boars ([number of carrier boar doses/total number doses provided] x 100): 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%. The fertility rates (percentage of successful multiple AIs/total multiple AIs) recorded for multiple AI including semen doses from the carrier boars were not significantly different from those recorded when all semen doses were supplied by normal-karyotype boars. A reduction in litter size of 29.38% was observed, however, in litters sired by one of the carrier boars when its participation in multiple AI was 100%. The number of live-born piglets per litter gradually decreased (P < 0.05) as the percentage participation in multiple AI (25, 50, or 75%) of the carrier boar increased. In addition, both carrier boars sired some piglets with signs of cleft palate and complex malformations of the front legs; these died soon after birth. In conclusion, the boars carrying the translocation rcp(1;11)(q−;p+) showed reduced reproductive performance.