J Vet Sci.  2014 Mar;15(1):167-171. 10.4142/jvs.2014.15.1.167.

Relationship between pregnancy rate and serum progesterone concentration in cases of porcine embryo transfer

• Moon J
• Choi JY
• Kang JT
• Park SJ
• Kim SJ
• Jang G
• Lee BC

• KMID: 1737624
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2014.15.1.167

Abstract

The level of P4 at the time of embryo transfer (ET) is important. P4 concentrations and numbers of corpora lutea for 126 recipients were evaluated. Nuclear transfer embryos were transferred into 126 surrogates. 11 maintained their pregnancy until full-term delivery, 17 miscarried, and implantation failed in 98 animals. P4 levels in the full-term group were significantly different from those of the pigs that aborted or in which implantation failed (p < 0.05). However, the numbers of corpora lutea were not significantly different. These findings indicate that the concentration of progesterone can be an important factor for successful ET in pigs.

Keyword

corpus luteum; pregnancy; progesterone; somatic cell nuclear transfer

MeSH Terms

Animals
Corpus Luteum/*physiology
Embryo Transfer/*veterinary
Embryo, Mammalian/*physiology
Female
Nuclear Transfer Techniques
Pregnancy
*Pregnancy Rate
Progesterone/*blood
Retrospective Studies
Sus scrofa/*physiology
Progesterone

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Progesterone (P4) concentrations of the three groups of surrogates (term-delivered, aborted, and implantation failure) at the time of embryo transfer (ET). The levels of P4 were 1.99 ± 0.17 ng/mL, 4.04 ± 0.17 ng/mL, and 4.73 ± 0.04 ng/mL for the three groups, respectively. The full-term delivery group had a significantly lower P4 concentration compared to that of the other two groups.

• 

  Fig. 2 Numbers of corpora lutea (CLs) in the three groups of surrogate pigs (term-delivered, aborted, and implantation failure). The numbers of CLs were 7.14 ± 0.15, 5.50 ± 0.13, and 7.03 ± 0.02 for the three groups, respectively. There were no significant differences among the groups.

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  Fig. 3 Ovaries of the recipients at the time of ET. (A~D) Ovaries from full-term delivered recipients. (E~H) Ovaries from aborted pregnancy animals. (I~L) Ovaries from recipients that experienced implantation failure. Non-ovulated follicles were detected even in recipients that successfully delivered offspring (D). While ovulated follicles were commonly detected in the aborted and implantation-failure groups, non-ovulated follicles were also found in the aborted (E, F, and G) and implantation-failure animals (I, J and L). White arrows indicate the non-ovulated follicles.

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