TABLE OF CONTENTS

December 2006
Editor: Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
¾ Presidentʹs letter G.Lazzari…………..……………..….… 1
¾ Press and news room 4
Dear Colleagues, ¾ Some Pictures of the last A.E.T.E. 5
Scientific Meeting ¾ Next conference ‐ Alghero, Sardinia 7
7th & 8th September 2007……………… ¾ European statistical data of bovine embryo transfer activity in 2006 9
Sybrand Merton.………………………….
Our society has held its 22nd meeting in Zug last
September, a very pleasant venue in the beautiful
Switzerland. The conference was attended by over
100 delegates and was organised in 19 oral
presentations, 2 workshops and a poster session
with 50 posters. The pioneer award was given to a
long-standing member of our society, Dr Ray
Newcomb and was presented by Dr Robert Brittain.
It was a special presentation for a special Awardee.
Dr Newcomb in fact has been a real pioneer of
embryo transfer in cattle especially during the years
that he spent at the Animal Research Station in
Cambridge. His contribution to the advance of
research in embryo collection and transfer has
certainly provided the basis of the subsequent
development of practical embryo transfer across the
world. Ray Newcomb presented a lecture in which
he spoke about the evolution of practical embryo
transfer at Cambridge describing the work carried
out by eminent scientists such as Walter Heape,
FHA Marshall, Sir John Hammond, Tim Rowson
and others. It was a very fascinating lecture in
which Ray Newcomb provided a convincing
overview of the vast experimental work that was
carried out by himself and his many collegues and
co-workers.
¾ Announcements……................................… 11
A.E.T.E. Newsletter
Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán, Editor
e-mail: [email protected]
No. 26 December 2005
A biannual published by the
European Embryo Transfer Society
Web Site: http:// www.aete.info
Letters to the Editor are welcomed.
Please include name, address,
telephone, FAX, and E-mail address
Another invited lecture was given by John
Hasler on the in vitro production of cattle embryos.
Dr Hasler gave an overview of the current situation
1
of in vitro embryo production with a special
emphasis on the activity ongoing in North America,
South America, New Zealand and Australia. Clearly
he showed a dramatic increase of in vitro embryo
production in South America also due to the flexible
organisation and lower production costs, but also in
Canada, both in contrast with the more relaxed and
little competitive attitude prevalent in Europe. The
third invited lecture was given by Dr Besenfelder on
the importance of the fallopian tube in embryo
transfer. Extensive evidence on the crucial role of
the oviduct was presented together with a detailed
description of the possibility of culturing in vitro
fertilised embryos in vivo directly in the cattle
oviduct. The fourth invited lecture was about the
embryo-maternal interactions in cattle and was
given by Prof. Eckhard Wolf. He unravelled the
complex mechanisms regulating the embryomaternal cross talk and presented the results of his
studies on transcriptome and proteome changes
during early pregnancy.
members in active discussion and exchange of data
and information.
Finally I would like to acknowledge the
excellent organization of the scientific meeting and
of the social programme by the Local Organising
Committee in Zug and especially by Rainer Saner
who did an outstanding job as Chair or the LOC.
I want also to mention the crucial role that the
sponsors have played in the organisation of this
conference and to thank all sponsors and exibitors
that with their support has made it possible such a
successful meeting.
The next meeting of our association will be
the 23rd and will be held in my country, Italy, in the
beautiful town of Alghero, in Sardinia, on the 7th
and 8th of September 2007. The Local Organising
Committee is making all possible efforts to ensure a
very enjoyable meeting and social programme.
I hope to meet all you and more of your collegues at
our next conference in Sardinia.
Giovanna Lazzari
President A.E.T.E. December 2006
Four students participated to the Student
Competition and it was a difficult task for the Board
members to select the winner because of the quality
of the oral and poster presentation. Finally A. ElSayed was the prize-winner.
A. El-Sayed, the winner of the Student Competition
The scientific programme included two
workshops on embryo transfer in horses,
coordinated by D. Burger, and on equipment and
procedures used in embryo transfer coordinated by
C.Ponsart, S. Lacaze and R. Brittain. Both
workshops were successful and involved several
Congratulations to Dr Ray Newcomb for the pioneer
award
-2-
AETE BOARD MEMBERS
Giovanna Lazzari, Italy, President
[email protected]
Pat Lonergan, Ireland, Secretary
[email protected]
Claire Ponsart, France, Treasurer
[email protected]
Josef Ratky, Hungary, Vice-President
[email protected]
Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán, Spain
[email protected]
Sybrand Merton, The Netherlands
[email protected]
Robert Brittain, U.K.
[email protected]
Serge Lacaze, France
[email protected]
Ingrid Brück Bøgh, Denmark
[email protected]
Becker Frank, Germany
[email protected]
A.E.T.E. Secretary
Pat Lonergan
University College Dublin, Lyons Research Farm,
Newcastle, County Dublin, IRELAND
Tel : +353 [1] 6012147 Fax : +353 [1] 6288421
email: [email protected]
website:
-3-
www.aete.info
PRESS AND NEWS ROOM
Is apoptosis in bovine in vitro produced embryos
related to early developmental kinetics and in
vivo bull fertility? L. Vandaele, B. Mateusen, D.
Maes, A. de Kruif, A. Van Soom. Theriogenology,
65: 1691-1703, 2006.
Production of cattle lacking prion protein JA
Richt, P Kasinathan, AN Hamir, J Castilla, T
Sathiyaseelan, F Vargas, J Sathiyaseelan, H Wu, H
Matsushita, J Koster, S Kato, I Ishida, C Soto, JM
Robl and Y Kuroiwa. Nature Biotechnology,
Published online: 31 December 2006; |
doi:10.1038/nbt1271
The objective of study was to investigate the
relation between in vivo bull fertility and apoptotic
cell ratio in blastocysts (bl) derived from IVF
oocytes. However since it is known that the timing
of first cleavage can differ between bulls the authors
carried out a preliminary experiment in which they
analysed the incidence of apoptosis in embryos
derived from early and late cleaving embryos. They
found a significant difference in the apoptotic cell
ratio between day 7 blastocyts derived from early
(30hpi) versus intermediate and late cleaving
embryos (36 and 48hpi) and also between day 7 and
day 8 bl derived from early and intermediate
cleaving embryos. The data also indicated a higher
bl developmental rate in the early cleavage group
confirming data already reported in the literature. In
the second experiment, sperm of eight bulls with
different non-return rates was used for in vitro
bovine embryo production. The bulls were selected
on the basis on the in vivo fertility calculated with
the non-return rate and divided in two groups: low
fertility and normal fertility. The authors found that
cell number of morulae and bl was not different
between the groups and also no difference could be
detected in the percentage of apoptotic nuclei in
both morulae and bl. In conclusion, this study
confirms that early cleaving zygotes give rise to
better quality bl on day 7 with a lower apoptotic cell
ratio as compared to day 7 bl derived from later
cleaving embryos and to bl forming on day 8. More
interestingly, the authors show that in vivo bull
fertility is not correlated to the degree of apoptosis
observed in the embryo produced by in vitro
fertilization with the semen of the same bulls.
Therefore the low fertility of bulls with lower nonreturn rate cannot be explained by the mechanism of
embryonic apoptosis.
In this manuscript it has been publish the production
of healthy prion protein-knockout cows using
nuclear transfer. Prion protein is a natural cellular
protein that can become misfolded into infectious
particles
and
cause
bovine
spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow disease") and a
lethal variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)
in humans. By knocking-out the prion protein gene
and producing healthy calves, the authors have
demonstrated that normal cellular prion protein is
not necessary for the normal development and
survival of cattle. The cows are completely healthy.
Prion-free calves are healthy and, using an in vitro
assay, that their brain tissue does not support the
propagation of misfolded prions. Disruption of PrPC
expression in mice, a species that does not naturally
contract prion diseases, results in no apparent
developmental abnormalities. However, the impact
of ablating PrPC function in natural host species of
prion diseases was unknown. Here the authors
report the generation and characterization of PrPCdeficient cattle produced by a sequential genetargeting system. At over 20 months of age, the
cattle
are
clinically,
physiologically,
histopathologically,
immunologically
and
reproductively normal. Brain tissue homogenates
are resistant to prion propagation in vitro as
assessed by protein misfolding cyclic amplification.
These prion protein-free calves should be useful in
investigating the function of normal cellular prion
protein and the nature of prion diseases.
Additionally, the cows should be useful as a source
of prion protein-free products.
Dr Giovanna Lazzari
CIZ, Cremona, Italy
Dr Alfonso Gutiérrez‐Adán INIA, Madrid, Spain -4-
Some Pictures of the last
A.E.T.E. Scientific Meeting
Dear Colleagues, the very successful previous
meeting of the association was held in Zug
(Switzerland) the last 8th-9th of September 2006. It
was a pleasure to visit Zug. It was a wonderful place
for the last AETE meeting. I will like to thanks to
Rainer Saner for the organization of the fantastic
meeting. It was also a wonderful scientific program,
thanks to all collaborators for the hard work and
efforts. Attached you can find some pictures of the
congress. I am very pleased to participate in this
AETE meeting, and I am confident that it will be
another productive year for the Society and its
members. Happy New Year for all of you. Alfonso
Gutiérrez-Adán
-5-
Main sponsor of the 22st Scientific Meeting of the A.E.T.E. -6-
The meeting will take place in the Hotel Calabona,
in Alghero, in the Calabona locality, just a few
minutes from the historical center of the city. The
hotel faces the splendid Riviera of Corallo offereing
a spectacular view from the promontory of Capo
Caccia.
The 23th Scientific Meeting of
the A.E.T.E
will be held in
Alghero - Sardinia
7TH - 8TH SEPTEMBER 2007
Invitation
On behalf of the European Embryo Transfer
Association the local organizing committee
cordially invites you to the 23sd scientific meeting
of the organization in Alghero, Sardinia, from the
7th to the 8th of September 2007.
Air and Sea transportation companies
Air
One,
Ryanair,
Alitalia,
Meridiana,
Volareweb.com, LTU, Snowflake, Hapag-Lloyd
Espress, helvetic.com, Air-Berlin, Wind Jet,
Tirrenia, Moby Lines, Grimaldi, Corsica Ferries,
Linea dei Golfi.
We are glad to found in Alghero a very nice
location in the central part of Mediterranean.
The Alghero-Fertilia airport is only 7 km away. The
port of Porto Torres is 30 Km away, while the city
of Sassari, capitol of the province is 35 Km distant.
Airport of Alghero-Fertilia
www.aeroportodialghero.it
Airport of Olbia Costa Smeralda
www.geasar.it
Hotel Calabona
Località Calabona
07041 Alghero (SS) - Sardinia, Italy
Tel. +39 079975728 - +39 079977343
FAX +39 079981046
[email protected]
-7-
Scientific Secretariat
AETE board
-
two workshops
published proceedings
lunch and coffee breaks
Organising Secretariat
1
Maria Dattena
Phone: 0039 079 387268
Fax: 0039 079 389450
e-mail: [email protected]
Language
The official language of the conference is English.
Scientific program
The scientific program will be published in spring
of 2007 as part of the second announcement. This
will also include the call for papers and the student
competition.
Fees for Sponsoring AETE Meeting
1
REGISTRATION
Euros
Student Member
Before 15th July 2007
140€
Student Member
After 15th July 2007
155€
General Sponsor
4 500 Euros
Exhibitors
1 900 Euros
Costs for advertisement in
the Newsletter (2 issues)
for one year: mailed to 700 members
200€
250€
2007 Membership Fee
70€
This price includes:
-
7 500 Euros
FEES
Alghero 2007
Full/Associate Member
Before 15th July 2007
Full/Associate Member
After 15th July 2007
Members who pay their
annual fee but do not attend
the Meeting will receive a
copy of the proceedings
Main Sponsor
participation at the Meeting (two full
days)
-8-
Full color back page
800 Euros
Full inside color page
600 Euros
Half inside color page
400 Euros
EUROPEAN STATISTICAL DATA OF BOVINE EMBRYO TRANSFER ACTIVITY IN 2005 Sybrand Merton
[email protected]
number of flushes
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
year
embryo per ET session
8
In this report a summary is given of the
embryo transfer statistics of 2005 as presented
during the annual AETE meeting in September in
Zug, Switzerland. The data includes numbers on
embryo production (MOET and OPU-IVP) and
transfers (fresh and frozen) for bovine and other
species (sheep, swine, goat and horse). These data
will also be forwarded to the International Embryo
Transfer Association (IETS Data Retrieval
Committee) for collation on a world-wide scale.
7
6
5
4
3
1996
1997
1998 1999
2000
2001
2002
2003 2004
2005
year
Figure 1: In vivo embryo production in Europe
(number of flushes and number of embryos per
flush).
Embryo production
number of OPU sessions
The total number of flushed donors in 2005
was 16,995. A decline of 2.7% compared to the
previous year. Embryo production efficiency
averaged 5.68 embryos per donor. These and
numbers of the previous years are shown in Figure
1.
The total number of OPU sessions was 3,764.
A decline of 17% compared to the previous year.
Embryo production efficiency increased with 36.4%
up to an average of 1.97 embryos per session. These
and numbers of the previous years are shown in
Figure 2.
10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
year
embryo per OPU session
2,5
There were only 7 countries in Europe
reporting the use of the OPU-IVP technique of
which 90% of the sessions are performed in The
Netherlands and Germany.
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
year
Embryo transfers
Figure 2: In vitro embryo production in Europe
(number of OPU sessions and number of embryos
per session).
In 2005 a total of 93,034 embryos were
transferred (Figure 3). A decline of 5.2% compared
to the previous year. The proportion of frozen
embryos was 57% and 54% for in vivo and in vitro
-9-
embryos, respectively. The proportion of OPU-IVP
embryos was 6.3%.
activities increased again in 2005 with almost 85%
(Figure 4).
embryo transfers
1200
transferred embryos
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
1000
Sheep
800
Swine
600
Goat
400
60000
200
40000
0
Horse
2000
20000
0
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
year
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
year
Figure 3. Total number of embryos transferred in
Europe.
Distribution of the number of flushes and
embryo transfers among the top 12 European
countries is shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Application of MOET in Europe; Top 12.
Countries
Flushes
France
Netherlands
Germany
Czech republic
Italy
Denmark
Spain
Finland
Belgium
England
Switzerland
Sweden
5,988
2,720
2,712
1,151
1,120
688
559
478
451
319
229
Figure 4. Number of embryos transferred in
Europe.
Conclusions
• Small decrease in in vivo embryo production
activities (- 2.7%)
• Substantial decrease in OPU-IVP activities (17%)
Embryos
Transferred
28,467
13,753
13,731
5,499
6,330
4,210
1,583
2,389
2,119
2,211
2,204
1,238
• Increased OPU-IVP production efficiency
• Activities in other species declining, except for
horses
Data collection
Again I want to encourage members or
participants of the AETE meeting to volunteer as
contact persons to collate the embryo transfer
statistics for their country. As you can read in the
proceedings, the data of 2005 was based on
information from 24 countries. This means that we
still need representatives for a number of countries.
Other species
The use of embryo production and transfer in
other species was again limited in Europe. For
swine, results were reported only from Czech
Republic and Hungary. For sheep, results were
reported from Greece, Romania, Hungary and
Portugal and for goat, results were reported from
Romania, Portugal and Croatia.
In contrast to this situation, 8 countries
reported activities in horses in which the transfer
- 10 -
ANNOUNCEMENT: ICFAR2007 International Conference on Farm Animal
Reproduction, ‘From Egg to Embryo’, May 27-30,
2007
With satellite ‘Implications of basic research for
Reproduction in Cattle’ on May 31, 2007
Wonderful place of Venue: Rolduc Abbey,
Kerkrade, The Netherlands
More information: www.nfsar.nl/icfar2007
CORRIGENDUM In the abstract from Gómez et al, (AETE
proceedings, 2006; pp:144), data corresponding to
Bcl-2 gene are incorrect, as primers used to run the
RT-PCR did not correspond to a sequence of the
bovine Bcl-2 gene, but to the Bax gene. Therefore,
the Bax gene was analyzed using two pairs of
primers with no exactly coincident results, and these
data should be not taken into account up to a further
reanalysis in our laboratory.
The authors apologize to AETE membership
and readers by the inconvenience.
- 11 -
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