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Folliculogenesis and Oocyte Quality in Awassi Sheep
Author(s) -
Al Fahel Christabelle,
Nassif Charbel,
Bou Karroum Rima,
Ibrahim Joe,
Sahakian Joseph,
Houchaymi Khaled,
Hajj Elham,
Aad Pauline
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.lb659
Subject(s) - awassi , folliculogenesis , oocyte , andrology , oogenesis , biology , breed , estrous cycle , follicle , zoology , endocrinology , embryo , medicine , embryogenesis , genetics
Female reproductive performance of Awassi ewe, the predominant breed of fat‐tail sheep of Lebanon are not well studied; we aimed to evaluate oocyte morphology and quality. 36 Awassi ovaries (Exp 1) from local slaughterhouses were collected from May to October and Follicles (>3 mm) aspirated for oocyte morphology evaluation. Furthermore, 10 Awassi ewes at the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (Exp 2) were monitored via ultrasonography from May to July to determine dominant and subordinate follicles; ovaries and ooyctes collected, and evaluated following slaughter. AMH, ZAR‐1 and BMP15 gene expression amplified using qRTPCR with SYBR and normalized to 18S rRNA. Results showed (exp 1) that 68% of collected oocytes were medium vs. 9% large oocytes, and 60% of Awassi oocytes satisfied more than 3 criteria of good quality, more frequently in October, but detected as early as May. Folliculogenesis in Awassi ewes (exp 2) showed an estrous cycle of 17±3 days with 2 waves and a dominant follicle of 4±0.9 mm. Of the dominant follicles, only 24.4% contained morphologically good vs. 17.8% bad oocytes. In the search for an oocyte quality marker, AMH mRNA was high in small and dominant follicles, but not subordinate; BMP‐15 was down‐regulated in small oocytes while ZAR‐1 did not differ among different quality oocytes. Therefore, these genes can be used to distinguish between different quality oocytes.
This research was supported by a grant from the LCNRS and NDU