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Animals
Special Issues
New Insights into Mammalian Fertilization
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New Insights into Mammalian Fertilization

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 5646

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Soriano-Úbeda Cristina

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
Interests: reproduction; in vitro fertilization; embryo development; in vitro embryo culture; gametes; spermatozoa; oocyte; ovary; estrous; reproductive biofluids; oocyte activation; calcium homeostasis; capacitation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs) have helped to expand our understanding of the many physico-chemical events surrounding reproductive physiology in animals, with specifically remarkable increases in data for mammals and profound implications for human beings. Fertilization is a complex biological process in which innumerable factors are directly and/or indirectly involved. A significant number of investigations around the world are currently deepening the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the fertilization process in mammals. The latest achievements in research have allowed for a widening of the perspective for the physiology of reproduction, improvements of the current ART techniques, and the development of new ones for both animal production and infertility treatment in humans. In the last few decades, it has been demonstrated that knowledge of reproductive physiology is the basis for gaining significant progress in both basic science and the technology of reproduction. This Special Issue is focused on fertilization and its possible implications for ARTs in mammals. The content compiles research papers and reviews selected to share the latest scientific advances in these techniques.

Dr. Soriano-Úbeda Cristina
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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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 semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • fertilization
  • spermatozoa
  • oocyte
  • embryo
  • oviduct
  • fusion
  • activation
  • capacitation
  • mammals

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2577 KiB  
Article
Pre-Treatment of Swine Oviductal Epithelial Cells with Progesterone Increases the Sperm Fertilizing Ability in an IVF Model
by Costanza Cimini, Fadl Moussa, Angela Taraschi, Marina Ramal-Sanchez, Alessia Colosimo, Giulia Capacchietti, Samia Mokh, Luca Valbonetti, Israiel Tagaram, Nicola Bernabò and Barbara Barboni
Animals 2022, 12(9), 1191; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12091191 - 6 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2336
Abstract
Mammalian spermatozoa are infertile immediately after ejaculation and need to undergo a functional modification, called capacitation, in order to acquire their fertilizing ability. Since oviductal epithelial cells (SOECs) and progesterone (P4) are two major modulators of capacitation, here we investigated their impact on [...] Read more.
Mammalian spermatozoa are infertile immediately after ejaculation and need to undergo a functional modification, called capacitation, in order to acquire their fertilizing ability. Since oviductal epithelial cells (SOECs) and progesterone (P4) are two major modulators of capacitation, here we investigated their impact on sperm functionality by using an IVF swine model. To that, we treated SOECs with P4 at 10, 100, and 1000 ng/mL before the coincubation with spermatozoa, thus finding that P4 at 100 ng/mL does not interfere with the cytoskeleton dynamics nor the cells’ doubling time, but it promotes the sperm capacitation by increasing the number of spermatozoa per polyspermic oocyte (p < 0.05). Moreover, we found that SOECs pre-treatment with P4 100 ng/mL is able to promote an increase in the sperm fertilizing ability, without needing the hormone addition at the time of fertilization. Our results are probably due to the downregulation in the expression of OVGP1, SPP1 and DMBT1 genes, confirming an increase in the dynamism of our system compared to the classic IVF protocols. The results obtained are intended to contribute to the development of more physiological and efficient IVF systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights into Mammalian Fertilization)
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10 pages, 1261 KiB  
Article
In Vitro Maturation of Cumulus–Oocyte Complexes and In Vitro Sperm Capacitation Significantly Increase the Expression and Enhance the Location of the CXCL12 and CXCR4 Anchoring Attractant Complex in Pigs
by Cristina A. Martinez, Manuel Alvarez-Rodriguez, Maite Casado-Bedmar and Heriberto Rodriguez-Martinez
Animals 2021, 11(1), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010153 - 11 Jan 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2462
Abstract
Successful internal fertilization in mammals depends on several mechanisms, including those triggering the so-called “sperm attraction” towards the oocyte, which include some oocyte-derived sperm chemoattractants and interactive protein complexes, such as the cytokine C-X-C motif chemokine 12/C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCL12-CXCR4) receptor [...] Read more.
Successful internal fertilization in mammals depends on several mechanisms, including those triggering the so-called “sperm attraction” towards the oocyte, which include some oocyte-derived sperm chemoattractants and interactive protein complexes, such as the cytokine C-X-C motif chemokine 12/C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCL12-CXCR4) receptor complex. The presence and precise localization of these crucial proteins was determined hereby, for the first time, in porcine cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) and spermatozoa. CXCL12 was overexpressed in the cumulus cells of in vitro matured, compared to immature COCs (p < 0.05), with its receptor (CXCR4) being up-regulated in capacitated spermatozoa (p < 0.03) compared to uncapacitated spermatozoa. The CXCR4 appeared specifically localized in the sperm tail of non-capacitated spermatozoa and also in the sperm head of capacitated spermatozoa, suggesting that the CXCL12-CXCR4 signaling complex would play a pivotal role in attracting capacitated spermatozoa towards the oocyte, facilitating fertilization in pigs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights into Mammalian Fertilization)
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