Sexing of Bovine Embryos and Fetuses by the Polymerase Chain Reaction Technique

概要

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The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used for identification of the sex of bovine blastocysts and fetuses in this study. The sex could be determined for 79 of the 80 in vitro-produced blastocysts, and the total sex ratio (male ratio) was 56 %. When the blastocysts were divided into four groups by the developmental speed-fast (hatched at Day 8 post insemination), intermediate (hatched at Day 9), slow (hatched at Day 10, 11) and delayed (expanded or hatching at Day 11), the sex ratios of each group were 80%, 61%, 35% and 61%, respectively, although with no significantly difference from the expected ratio of 50%. This result suggest that male bovine preimplantation embryos develop in vitro faster than female embryos. Using a transvaginal ultrasound-guided aspiration, bovine fetal (amniotic or allantoic) fluids were collected from all of 11 cows during the third to ninth months of pregnancy, and the PCR with these fluid samples was adapted to identify the sex of fetuses. In all but four cases (two in which no amplification in the PCR analysis, and two in which actual sex could not be determined on calves born at term), the PCR assayed sex agreed with actual sex. The results reported here indicate that it is possible to identify the sex of not only preimplantation embryos but also prenatal fetuses by the PCR technique in cattle.
日本暖地畜産学会の論文