Is IVF, In Vitro Fertilization, Right For My Herd

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EPISODE 199 DETAILS Is IVF, In Vitro Fertilization, Right For Your Herd Understanding In Vitro Fertilization What Is In Vitro Fertilization

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is the process of creating embryos from oocytes (unfertilized egg cells) by fertilizing them with semen in a Petri dish. Oocytes are first collected from the ovaries of donors by ultrasound-guided follicular aspiration. They are then matured in a Petri dish and fertilized 20-24 hours later. Conventional, sexed frozen, or reverse-sorted semen may be used for fertilization. Oocytes then develop in an incubator for seven days, at which point the resulting viable embryos are transferred into recipients.

How Does In Vitro Fertilization Work

In-Vitro Fertilization resembles conventional ET by allowing cows to produce multiple calves per year. This is accomplished by generating embryos from elite cows called donors and transferring them into cows with less genetic merit called recipients. After this, there are many differences in the way the procedure works.

In IVF, oocytes (unfertilized eggs) are collected using a specially designed probe, fitted with an ultrasound transducer which allows the ovary to be visualized during the aspiration procedure. The technician locates and stabilizes the ovary via rectal palpation of the reproductive tract. The aspiration probe is inserted vaginally where the transducer and ovary meet with only the vaginal wall separating the two. The probe has an attached needle guide that houses a 55cm long needle. This needle will transverse the vaginal membrane and is inserted into fluid filled follicles, containing oocytes, located on the ovary. The contents of the follicles are aspirated out and captured in a searchable filter. The filter is then taken into the lab where it is rinsed and searched using a microscope; the oocytes are then retrieved, counted, and graded.

Once the oocytes have been processed they are moved into dishes with special media designed to mature them. The dishes are placed in an incubator for 18 to 24 hours where the maturation process takes place. The following day, semen is added to the dishes containing the matured oocytes and fertilization takes place. The media and incubator are designed to mimic the cow’s uterine environment as pertains to temperature, pH, etc. Following fertilization, the oocytes are left in the incubators for the next 7 days as a percentage of them develop into embryos. They can then be evaluated under a microscope and quality graded just as you would conventional ET embryos. The grade one and two embryos are now ready to be loaded into transfer straws and implanted into recipient cows that were in standing heat 7-8 days prior to the transfer date or frozen for transfer at a later date.

Potential Applications of IVF, In Vitro Fertilization

1. Embryo production from pregnant donors — Because the cervix and uterus are not penetrated during the process of aspiration, oocytes can still be collected without disturbing the fetus. Donors can be safely aspirated from about 45-100 days of gestation. On rare occasions donors can be aspirated up to 6 months of gestation, as long as the ovaries are accessible to the technician. This application is a good alternative for operations wanting to get a jump on the next generation. In years past, breeders were forced to decide whether to risk future productivity of young donors by flushing them as virgins or just postponing embryo production until after their first calf. By getting the heifers pregnant first, they are already on their way to calving in a normal window with their counterparts. It also works well for those operations that want to keep donors on a 365-day calving interval, and can help reduce reproductive failures such as cysts in donors that remain open for long periods of time.
2. Production from donors that do not make embryos in ET — Various reasons can cause donors to be nonproductive in ET. Blockages, scaring, uterine infections, and un-passable cervixes are some of the more common reproductive tract abnormalities that can be overcome through IVF. Also, donors prone to overstimulation or those that produce a high percentage of unfertilized eggs, generally perform well in IVF Donors that typically fail to stimulate and ovulate little to no ova will not necessarily benefit from IVF.
3. Adding value to semen —With IVF, less semen is needed than in a typical AI or ET procedure because oocytes are contained in small dishes during the fertilization period. This allows for tremendous opportunities. Depending on quality, one straw of conventional semen can fertilize oocytes from as many as 15 donors. This allows breeders to maximize the effectiveness of rare or expensive semen. If sex selected pregnancies are desired the IVF system offers distinct advantages over conventional ET. Quality sexed frozen semen tends to be more effective in IVF because less sperm cells are necessary. Generally 1-2 straws are sufficient per donor, depending on how many oocytes she has produced. Semen does not have to be sexed prior to freezing in order to get sexed pregnancies. Conventionally frozen semen can be sorted for the desired sex prior to fertilization in the IVF process – this is termed reverse sorting. It should be noted that not all bulls will work after reverse sorting. Also, oocytes from high producing donors can be placed in separate dishes making it possible to use more than one sire and still be able to identify the matings of the resulting embryos.
4. Short interval between procedures —The IVF procedure can be repeated more often than conventional ET. Donors are routinely placed on bi-weekly schedules. During a 90 day period a donor could be aspirated up to 6 times. Within a given time frame, more total pregnancies can be created through an IVF program when compared to ET.
5. Other applications — Because donors do not have to be cycling in order to perform the IVF procedure, embryos can be created from cows that have not yet returned to estrus postpartum and heifers that have not reached puberty. Oocytes can also be recovered from the ovaries of slaughtered females or donors prior to a death event.

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References

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https://transova.com/

https://transova.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IVF_Powerful_Tool.pdf