Mammalian ovaries are endowed with a large number of primordial follicles, each containing a nongrowing oocyte. Only a small population of primordial oocytes (oocytes in primordial follicles) is activated to enter the growth phase throughout a female's reproductive life. Little is known about the mechanism regulating the activation of primordial oocytes. Here, we found that the primordial oocytes from infant pigs (10-to 20-day-old) grew to full size at 2 months after xenografting to immunodeficient mice, whereas those from prepubertal pigs (6-month-old) survived without initiation of their growth even after 4 months; thereafter, they started to grow and reached full size after 6 months. These results suggest that the mechanism regulating the activation of primordial oocytes in prepubertal pigs is different from that in infant pigs. In this regard, the involvement of FOXO3, a forkhead transcription factor, was studied. In prepubertal pigs, FOXO3 was detected in almost all (94G2%) primordial oocyte nuclei, and in infant pigs, 42G7% primordial oocytes were FOXO3 positive. At 4 months after xenografting, the percentage of FOXO3-positive primordial oocytes from prepubertal pigs had decreased to the infant level. Further, siRNA was designed to knock down porcine FOXO3. FOXO3-knockdown primordial follicles from prepubertal pigs developed to the antral stage accompanied by oocyte growth at 2 months after xenografting. These results suggest that primordial oocytes are dormant in prepubertal pigs by a FOXO3-related mechanism to establish a nongrowing oocyte pool in the ovary, and that a transient knockdown of the FOXO3 activates the primordial oocytes to enter the growth phase.

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In mammals, oocyte growth and follicular development are known to be regulated by KIT, a tyrosine kinase receptor. Fas is a member of the death receptor family inducing apoptosis. Here, we investigated germ cell survival, oocyte growth and follicular development in KIT-deficient (W v /W v

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The experiment was conducted to find out the effect of four feeding systems namely; stall feeding, tethering, restricted grazing and grazing on carcass characteristics of Black Bengal goat. Twenty four does of approximately 1 year of age were randomly selected for four treatments of feeding systems having 6 replications in each. Stall fed goats were kept into house all time and adequate amount of natural grass were supplied for ad libitum feeding. Goats of tethering group were tethered for eating natural grass from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and were transferred after one hour interval for changing the grazing place. Goats of restricted grazing group were allowed for grazing from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Goats of grazing group were grazed for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Concentrate supplement was given at the rate of 150 g per day per goat for all of the treatment groups. Goats were slaughtered after the experiment of 219 days. Body length and height at wither were significantly higher in stall feeding group than others. Average dressing percentage were 42.18, 39.0, 36.79 and 34.0 for stall feeding, tethering, restricted grazing and grazing groups, respectively. Dressing percentage varied significantly (p<0.05) among feeding groups. Caul fat and empty gut weight differed significantly (p<0.05) in all of the feeding systems but others non-carcass parameters did not differ significantly. Percentage of dry matter and ether extract were also significantly (p<0.05) higher in stall fed groups. In conclusion, among four treatment groups, performance of stall fed goats were most satisfactory and then tethering showed better performance than any other groups.