Expression of IL-23 in gilt endometrium and oviduct after insemination with seminal plasma, spermatozoa or semen extender

Thawing of cryopreserved sperm from domestic animals: Impact of temperature, time, and addition of molecules to thawing/insemination medium

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in optimizing the protocols intended to sperm cryopreservation in domestic animals. These protocols include initial cooling, freezing, and thawing. While different attempts have been devised to improve sperm cryopreservation, the efficiency of this reproductive biotechnology is still far from being optimal. Furthermore, while much attention in improving cooling/freezing, less emphasis has been made in how thawing can be ameliorated. Despite this, the conditions through which, upon thawing, sperm return to physiological temperatures are much relevant, given that these cells must travel throughout the female genital tract until they reach the utero-tubal junction. Moreover, the composition of the media used for artificial insemination (AI) may also affect sperm survival, which is again something that one should bear because of the long journey that sperm must make. Furthermore, sperm quality and functionality decrease dramatically during post-thawing incubation time. Added to that, the deposition of the thawed sperm suspension devoid of seminal plasma in some species during an AI is accompanied by a leukocyte migration to the uterine lumen and with it the activation of immune mechanisms. Because few reviews have focused on the evidence gathered after sperm thawing, the present one aims to compile and discuss the available information concerning ruminants, pigs and horses.

Changes in Immune Response during Pig Gestation with a Focus on Cytokines

Pigs have the highest percentage of embryonic death not associated with specific diseases of all livestock species, at 20-45%. During gestation processes, a series of complex alterations can arise, including embryonic migration and elongation, maternal immunological recognition of pregnancy, and embryonic competition for implantation sites and subsequent nutrition requirements and development. Immune cells and cytokines act as mediators between other molecules in highly complex interactions between various cell types. However, other non-immune cells, such as trophoblast cells, are important in immune pregnancy regulation. Numerous studies have shed light on the crucial roles of several cytokines that regulate the inflammatory processes that characterize the interface between the fetus and the mother throughout normal porcine gestation, but most of these reports are limited to the implantational and peri-implantational periods. Increase in some proinflammatory cytokines have been found in other gestational periods, such as placental remodeling. Porcine immune changes during delivery have not been studied as deeply as in other species. This review details some of the immune system cells actively involved in the fetomaternal interface during porcine gestation, as well as the principal cells, cytokines, and molecules, such as antibodies, that play crucial roles in sow pregnancy, both in early and mid-to-late gestation.