title: Births of freemartins derived from embryos reconstructed with ear fibroblasts.
abstract: Although the combination of artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET) is effective for preventing large offspring syndrome in clone cattle production, it may cause freemartinism. In this study, 51 reconstructed embryos were transferred to artificially inseminated recipients. Of those 9 twin pregnancies, three delivered male and female offsprings. The females had tufts of long coarse hair and short blind pouch at the vaginal end. At necropsy, hypoplastic testicles and epididymis, which connected to the uterus through the spermatic cord, were found and seminal vesicles were also noted. All females had mixed sex chromosome configuration (60, XX and 60, XY). These results suggest that the combined ET program can cause freemartinism, which reduces the efficiency of clone cattle production.
authors: Department of Theriogenology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Korea.
authors: W S
authors: WS
authors: Hwang
authors: J K
authors: JK
authors: Cho
authors: K Y
authors: KY
authors: Kim
authors: S J
authors: SJ
authors: Shin
authors: S K
authors: SK
authors: Kim
authors: J I
authors: JI
authors: Park
authors: D Y
authors: DY
authors: Kim
authors: J K
authors: JK
authors: Lee
authors: J M
authors: JM
authors: Lim
authors: B C
authors: BC
authors: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001724:Birth Weight; D002417:Cattle; D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000502:physiology; D005611:Freemartinism / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D053652:Nuclear Transfer Techniques; D011247:Pregnancy; D014427:Twins