This study examined the impact of cow body condition on the quality of bovine preimplantation embryos. The embryos (n = 107) were flushed from dairy cows and classified according to a five-point scale body condition score (BCS2 n = 17; BCS3 n = 31; BCS4 n = 11) on the 7th day after insemination and then analyzed for development, dead cell index (DCI), cell number and actin cytoskeleton quality. The highest embryo recovery rate (P < 0.05) was recorded in the BCS3 group and the lowest in the BCS4 group. More transferable (morula, blastocyst) embryos were obtained from the BCS4 cows (79%), compared with the BCS2 (64%) or BCS3 (63%) animals. However, cell numbers were higher in the BCS2 and BCS3 groups (P < 0.05) compared with the BCS4 embryos. Conversely, the DCI was lowest in the BCS2 (3.88%; P < 0.05) and highest in the BCS4 (6.56%) embryos. The proportion of embryos with the best actin quality (grade I) was higher in the BCS2 and BCS3 cows compared with the BCS4 group. Almost 25% of all embryos showed fragmented morphology and a higher DCI (5.65%) than normal morulas (1.76%). More fragmented embryos were revealed in the BCS2 (28.6%) and BCS4 (31.25%) groups, and less (19.15%) in the BCS3 group. The cell numbers in such embryos were lower in the BCS4 (22.57) than in the BCS2 (46.25) or BCS3 (42.4) groups. In conclusion, the body condition of dairy cows affects the quality of preimplantation embryos. A BCS over 3.0 resulted in a higher incidence of poor (fragmented) embryos.

• MeSH
• apoptóza MeSH
• blastocysta cytologie   metabolismus   MeSH
• buněčné dělení MeSH
• fertilizace in vitro metody   MeSH
• koncové značení zlomů DNA in situ MeSH
• konfokální mikroskopie MeSH
• mikrofilamenta metabolismus   MeSH
• mlékárenství MeSH
• morula cytologie   metabolismus   MeSH
• počet buněk MeSH
• přenos embrya metody   MeSH
• skot MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• skot MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

The aim of the study was to define interrelationships between histopathological alterations in ovarian antral follicles and body condition in dairy cows with a tendency to emaciation (BCS 1 and 2) compared with dairy cows with normal body condition (BCS 3). The ovaries were recovered from slaughtered cyclic dairy cows (at the luteal phase of the cycle) of Czech Fleckvieh and Holstein breeds at different times of the post-partum period. The animals were estimated as belonging to certain grade of body condition score (BCS) according to a 5-point scale. Only dairy cows with BCS1 (emaciation; n=6), BCS2 (tendency to emaciation; n=5) and BCS3 (optimal body condition status; n=6) were available for the experiment. The ovarian samples were embedded into Technovit 7100 resin; the tissue sections were stained with buffered basic fuchsine with toluidine blue. For acidic mucopolysaccharides (aMPS) a combination of PAS-technique with Alcian blue was used. Histological analysis showed that emaciation was associated with an increased occurrence of late (cystic) and luteinization-related atresia in granulosa and theca cells and increased levels of aMPS in small atretic follicles. Our observations indicate that dairy cows with a tendency to emaciation (BCS 2) or emaciated (BCS 1) have elevated occurrence of late atresia and atresia with luteinization, while initial atresia is less. This expands our basic knowledge of ovarian histopathology providing new insight into the association of antral follicle atresia and body condition status in dairy cows.

• MeSH
• folikulární atrézie MeSH
• ovariální folikul patologie   MeSH
• skot MeSH
• vyhublost patologie   veterinární   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• skot MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH