This study was performed to test the viability of administering a single 40 mg dose of Folltropin-V® (FSH, Bioniche Animal Health) diluted in SRF (MAP-5 50, Sodium Hyaluronate, Bioniche Animal Health) on day 5 of a recipient synchronization protocol to beef cows to evaluate its effect on recipient fertility. All recipients were administered an estradiol 17beta (2.5 mg, IM) and progesterone (50 mg, IM) combination injection on day 0 and a CIDR® (progesterone 1.34 g, Pfizer Animal Health) was inserted. Lutalyse® (dinoprost tromethamine, Pfizer Animal Health, 25 mg, IM) was administered at the time of CIDR removal on day 7, and estradiol 17beta (1 mg, IM) was administered on day 8. On day 16, the presence of at least one corpus luteum (CL), detected via ultrasound, resulted in the recipient receiving an embryo (both fresh and frozen-thawed embryos were used). Embryos were not transferred into cows that did not show the presence of a CL. Dependent variables for which data were collected included circulating progesterone levels at the time of transfer, number of CLs and CL diameter, circumference, and area; measured in millimeters. The study (n=572) consisted of a treatment group (n=268) and a control group (n=304), and included both Bos indicus (Brahman influenced) crossbred (n=115) and Bos taurus (Angus based) cows (n=457). Pregnancy rates for Treated recipients (40.67%A) and Control recipients (52.96%B) differed (P<.05). There was no difference in the mean number of CLs per recipient for Treated (1.14 +/- .03) and Control (1.10 +/- .02) cows, nor was there a difference in progesterone (P4) at the time of transfer for Treated (3.14 +/- .40 ng/mL) and Control (3.23 +/- .18 ng/mL) recipients. Overall, the inclusion of Folltropin-V® diluted in hyaluronan in a FTET synchronization protocol did not improve the fertility of beef recipients.

Beef and milk production industries represent the largest agricultural industries in the United States with a retail equivalent value of approximately $112 billion (USDA, 2008). Infertility is the major problem for mammalian reproduction. In the United States approximately 66% of cows are bred by Artificial Insemination (AI), but only ~50% of these inseminations result in successful pregnancies. Infertility can occur either from male factor (spermatozoon) or female factor (oocyte) and male contributes approximately 40% of cases. Infertility costs the producer approximately $5 per exposed cow for every 1% reduction in pregnancy rate. In spite of its millions of dollars in economic impact, the precise molecular events/mechanisms that determine the fertilizing potential of an oocyte and spermatozoon are not well defined. The thesis of my doctoral dissertation is that proteomics-based “systems biology” modeling of bovine oocyte and spermatozoon can facilitate rapid understanding of fertility. To test this thesis, I needed to first identify the proteins associated with bovine oocyte and its associated cumulus cells, and spermatozoon. The next step was functional annotation of the experimentally confirmed proteins to identify the major functions associated with the oocyte, cumulus cells and spermatozoon, and finally, generate a proteomics based systems biology model of bovine oocyte and cumulus cell communication and male fertility. The results of my dissertation established the methods that provide afoundation for high-throughput proteomics approaches of bovine oocyte and cumuluscell biology and allowed me to model the intricate cross communication between oocyte and cumulus cells using systems biology approaches. Proteomics based systems biology modeling of oocytes and cumulus cells identified the signaling pathways and proteins associated with this communication that may have implications in oocyte maturation. In addition, systems biology modeling of differential spermatozoa proteomes from bulls of varying fertility rates enabled the identification of putative molecular markers and key pathways associated with male fertility. The ultimate positive impact of these results is to facilitate the field of biomedical research with useful information for comparative biology, better understanding of bovine oocyte and spermatozoon development, infertility, biomarker discovery, and eventually development of therapies to treat infertility in bovine as well as humans.