Special Issue "Advances in Animal Fertility Preservation"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Reproduction".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 December 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Rosa Maria L.N. Pereira
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Biotechnology and Genetic Resources Unit of the National Institute of Agrarian and Veterinarian Research/ Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, Quinta da Fonte Boa, 2005-048 Vale de Santarém, Portugal
Interests: physiology; reproduction; assisted reproductive technologies; animal genetic resources characterization and conservation; gametes and embryo metabolism; cryobiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The preservation and sustainable management of animal genetic resources is critical for the global maintenance of biodiversity, food security, and population livelihoods. A concerted effort, including the establishment of international and national goals and strategies allied to local interventions, is urgently needed for the conservation of animal genetic diversity. Currently, most of the indicators of the state of biodiversity are in decline. This decline is global and is not slowing down. On the contrary, the extinction of species and breeds, including domestic animals, continues to increase. Germplasm preservation and assisted reproductive technologies are currently envisaged as critical tools for the conservation and management of animal genetic resources and for fertility preservation. However, germplasm quality is one of the key limiting factors in both male and female fertility. This Special Issue presents an excellent opportunity to show novel strategies, therapies, and lines of research in progress that have revealed different possibilities in the conservation of animal genetic resources, the preservation of germplasm, and the improvement in the quality and developmental competence of gametes and embryos.

Dr. Rosa Maria L.N. Pereira
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • animal genetic resources conservation
  • assisted reproductive technologies
  • germplasm
  • cryopreservation
  • development
  • pregnancy

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Anti-Aging Effect of Urolithin A on Bovine Oocytes In Vitro
Animals 2021, 11(7), 2048; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11072048 - 09 Jul 2021
Viewed by 1021
Abstract
Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction have been associated with the age-related decline of oocyte quality and strategies for their prevention are currently quested. Urolithin A (UA) is a natural metabolite with pro-apoptotic and antioxidant effects, capable of preventing the accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria [...] Read more.
Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction have been associated with the age-related decline of oocyte quality and strategies for their prevention are currently quested. Urolithin A (UA) is a natural metabolite with pro-apoptotic and antioxidant effects, capable of preventing the accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria in different aged cells. UA has never been tested in bovine oocytes. Our aim was to study the effect of UA on the developmental potential of cumulus-oocyte-complexes (COCs) and granulosa cells’ (GCs) expression of important genes related to reproductive competence. Nuclear maturation progression, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and developmental competence of physiologically mature (22 h) and in vitro aged oocytes (30 h of IVM) obtained from prepubertal and adult females, either supplemented with UA or not were assessed. Additionally, the amount of mRNA of several genes (NFE2L2, NQO1, and mt-DN5) and the number of mt-ND5 DNA copies were quantified in cultured GCs from prepubertal and adult females, either supplemented with UA or not. Our study confirmed the harmful effect of oocyte aging on the nuclear maturation progression, MMP, developmental competence and gene expression levels. UA treatment during in vitro maturation enhanced (p < 0.05) the maturation rate and subsequent developmental capacity of aged oocytes. A positive effect (p < 0.05) of UA on physiological maturation, MMP and embryonic development was also identified. UA also interfered on the expression profile of NFE2L2 and NQO1 genes in GCs cultures. Our findings demonstrate that UA supplementation is an effective way to prevent oocyte aging and improves the subsequent bovine embryonic development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Animal Fertility Preservation)
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