Effect of Intra-ovarian Injection of Mesenchymal Stem Cells or its Conditioned Media on Repeated OPU-IVEP Outcomes in Jersey Heifers and Its Relationship with Follicular Fluid Inflammatory Markers.

Background: Repeated Ovum Pick Up (OPU) could have a detrimental effect on ovarian function, reducing In Vitro Embryo Production (IVEP). The present study examined the therapeutic effect of adipose-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) or its Conditioned Medium (ConM) on ovarian trauma following repeated OPU. Resolvin E1 (RvE1) and Interleukin-12 (IL-12) were investigated as biomarkers. Methods: Jersey heifers (n=8) experienced 11 OPU sessions including 5 pre-treatment and 6 treatment sessions. Heifers received intra-ovarian administration of MSCs or ConM (right ovary) and Dulbecco's Modified Phosphate Buffer Saline (DMPBS; left ovary) after OPU in sessions 5 and 8 and 2 weeks after session 11. The concentrations of RvE1 and IL-12 in follicular fluid was evaluated on sessions 1, 5, 6, 9, and 4 weeks after session 11. Following each OPU session, the IVEP parameters were recorded. Results: Intra-ovarian administration of MSCs, ConM, and DMPBS did not affect IVEP parameters (p>0.05). The concentration of IL-12 in follicular fluid increased at the last session of pre-treatment (Session 5; p<0.05) and remained elevated throughout the treatment period. There was no correlation between IL-12 and IVEP parameters (p>0.05). However, RvE1 remained relatively high during the pre-treatment and decreased toward the end of treatment period (p<0.05). This in turn was associated with decline in some IVEP parameters (p<0.05). Conclusion: Intra-ovarian administration of MSCs or ConM during repeated OPU did not enhance IVEP outcomes in Bos taurus heifers. The positive association between RvE1 and some of IVEP parameters could nominate RvE1 as a promising biomarker to predict IVEP parameters following repeated OPU.

System dynamics simulation of regional water supply and demand using a food-energy-water nexus approach: Application to Qazvin Plain, Iran.

Understanding the complexity and feedbacks among food, energy, and water (FEW) systems is key to making informed decisions about sustainable development. This paper presents qualitative representation and quantitative system dynamics simulation of the water resources system in the Qazvin Plain, Iran, taking into account the energy intensity of water supply and interconnected water use sectors (e.g., urban, industrial, and agricultural). Qazvin Plain faces water resources challenges that are common to arid/semi-arid areas, including frequent droughts, declining surface water and groundwater, and increased urban and agricultural water demand. A system dynamics model is developed using historical data (2006-2016) to investigate the effects of anticipated dynamics of integrated water and energy sectors in the next two decades. The results of policy scenarios (2020-2039) demonstrate that the continuation of the existing management policies will cause severe damage to the water and energy sectors, pushing the system towards water resources limits to growth. An annual groundwater table decline of nearly 1 m is anticipated, indicating significant overshoot of the plain's natural recharge capacity, which may lead to the depletion of recoverable groundwater in the plain within the next three decades. The groundwater table decline will cause energy consumption of water supply to increase by about 32% (i.e., 380 GWh) to maintain irrigated agriculture. It is critical to implement a combination of water demand and supply management policies (e.g., net agricultural water savings and recycling treated wastewater) to delay the problem of water limits to growth in the region.

The effect of ovine oocyte vitrification on expression of subset of genes involved in epigenetic modifications during oocyte maturation and early embryo development.

Apart from ultrastructural damages in oocytes subjected to cryopreservation procedures, little is known about the status of epigenetic modification and chromatin remodeling in vitrified oocytes. In present study, the expression patterns of eight genes involved in epigenetic modification (HAT1, HDAC1, SUV39H1, DNMT1, and DNMT3b), chromatin remodeling (HMGN3a and SMARCAL1), and transcription (STAT3), were investigated in fresh and vitrified germinal vesicle and metaphase II oocytes and their resulting embryos at 2 to 7 cells, 8 to 16 cells, morula, and blastocyst stages. The mRNA relative abundance was quantified by reverse transcriptase real-time polymerase chain reaction, as fold change relative to the value obtained for fresh germinal vesicle oocytes. Vitrified oocytes showed lower cleavage (38.1% vs. 95.5%, P < 0.001) and development to blastocyst (8.2% vs. 50.8%, P < 0.001) compared with controls. In both fresh and vitrified groups, the genes expressions in oocytes were lower than cleaving embryos, with an exception of HMGN3a. Compared with fresh derived embryos, in vitrified groups, the overall expressions of HMGN3a and HDAC1 were decreased, whereas the expressions of STAT3, SMARCAL1, and DNMT3B were increased. Altogether, despite some differences in expression pattern of some genes, the overall pattern of increase and/or decrease in gene expression was almost the same in most of the genes studied between vitrified and fresh groups. Thus, apart from some mismatch in pattern of genes expression in a number of cases, the difference in magnitude and/or primacy and recency in reaching to the maximum expression, in association to embryonic genome activation, between fresh and vitrified groups, might be the reason for the lower developmental competence of vitrified-warmed oocytes compared with fresh ones.