TABLE OF CONTENTS. Dear Colleagues,

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1 December 2006 Editor: Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán TABLE OF CONTENTS Presidentʹs letter G.Lazzari Press and news room 4 Some Pictures of the last A.E.T.E. Scientific Meeting 5 Next conference Alghero, Sardinia 7 th & 8 th September European statistical data of bovine embryo transfer activity in Sybrand Merton.. Announcements A.E.T.E. Newsletter Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán, Editor agutierr@inia.es No. 26 December 2005 A biannual published by the European Embryo Transfer Society Web Site: Letters to the Editor are welcomed. Please include name, address, telephone, FAX, and address Dear Colleagues, Our society has held its 22nd meeting in Zug last September, a very pleasant venue in the beautiful Switzerland. The conference was attended by over 100 delegates and was organised in 19 oral presentations, 2 workshops and a poster session with 50 posters. The pioneer award was given to a long-standing member of our society, Dr Ray Newcomb and was presented by Dr Robert Brittain. It was a special presentation for a special Awardee. Dr Newcomb in fact has been a real pioneer of embryo transfer in cattle especially during the years that he spent at the Animal Research Station in Cambridge. His contribution to the advance of research in embryo collection and transfer has certainly provided the basis of the subsequent development of practical embryo transfer across the world. Ray Newcomb presented a lecture in which he spoke about the evolution of practical embryo transfer at Cambridge describing the work carried out by eminent scientists such as Walter Heape, FHA Marshall, Sir John Hammond, Tim Rowson and others. It was a very fascinating lecture in which Ray Newcomb provided a convincing overview of the vast experimental work that was carried out by himself and his many collegues and co-workers. Another invited lecture was given by John Hasler on the in vitro production of cattle embryos. Dr Hasler gave an overview of the current situation 1

2 of in vitro embryo production with a special emphasis on the activity ongoing in North America, South America, New Zealand and Australia. Clearly he showed a dramatic increase of in vitro embryo production in South America also due to the flexible organisation and lower production costs, but also in Canada, both in contrast with the more relaxed and little competitive attitude prevalent in Europe. The third invited lecture was given by Dr Besenfelder on the importance of the fallopian tube in embryo transfer. Extensive evidence on the crucial role of the oviduct was presented together with a detailed description of the possibility of culturing in vitro fertilised embryos in vivo directly in the cattle oviduct. The fourth invited lecture was about the embryo-maternal interactions in cattle and was given by Prof. Eckhard Wolf. He unravelled the complex mechanisms regulating the embryomaternal cross talk and presented the results of his studies on transcriptome and proteome changes during early pregnancy. Four students participated to the Student Competition and it was a difficult task for the Board members to select the winner because of the quality of the oral and poster presentation. Finally A. El- Sayed was the prize-winner. members in active discussion and exchange of data and information. Finally I would like to acknowledge the excellent organization of the scientific meeting and of the social programme by the Local Organising Committee in Zug and especially by Rainer Saner who did an outstanding job as Chair or the LOC. I want also to mention the crucial role that the sponsors have played in the organisation of this conference and to thank all sponsors and exibitors that with their support has made it possible such a successful meeting. The next meeting of our association will be the 23rd and will be held in my country, Italy, in the beautiful town of Alghero, in Sardinia, on the 7th and 8th of September The Local Organising Committee is making all possible efforts to ensure a very enjoyable meeting and social programme. I hope to meet all you and more of your collegues at our next conference in Sardinia. Giovanna Lazzari President A.E.T.E. December 2006 A. El-Sayed, the winner of the Student Competition The scientific programme included two workshops on embryo transfer in horses, coordinated by D. Burger, and on equipment and procedures used in embryo transfer coordinated by C.Ponsart, S. Lacaze and R. Brittain. Both workshops were successful and involved several Congratulations to Dr Ray Newcomb for the pioneer award - 2 -

3 AETE BOARD MEMBERS Giovanna Lazzari, Italy, President Pat Lonergan, Ireland, Secretary Claire Ponsart, France, Treasurer Josef Ratky, Hungary, Vice-President Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán, Spain Sybrand Merton, The Netherlands Robert Brittain, U.K. Serge Lacaze, France Ingrid Brück Bøgh, Denmark Becker Frank, Germany A.E.T.E. Secretary Pat Lonergan University College Dublin, Lyons Research Farm, Newcastle, County Dublin, IRELAND Tel : +353 [1] Fax : +353 [1] pat.lonergan@ucd.ie website:

4 PRESS AND NEWS ROOM Is apoptosis in bovine in vitro produced embryos related to early developmental kinetics and in vivo bull fertility? L. Vandaele, B. Mateusen, D. Maes, A. de Kruif, A. Van Soom. Theriogenology, 65: , The objective of study was to investigate the relation between in vivo bull fertility and apoptotic cell ratio in blastocysts (bl) derived from IVF oocytes. However since it is known that the timing of first cleavage can differ between bulls the authors carried out a preliminary experiment in which they analysed the incidence of apoptosis in embryos derived from early and late cleaving embryos. They found a significant difference in the apoptotic cell ratio between day 7 blastocyts derived from early (30hpi) versus intermediate and late cleaving embryos (36 and 48hpi) and also between day 7 and day 8 bl derived from early and intermediate cleaving embryos. The data also indicated a higher bl developmental rate in the early cleavage group confirming data already reported in the literature. In the second experiment, sperm of eight bulls with different non-return rates was used for in vitro bovine embryo production. The bulls were selected on the basis on the in vivo fertility calculated with the non-return rate and divided in two groups: low fertility and normal fertility. The authors found that cell number of morulae and bl was not different between the groups and also no difference could be detected in the percentage of apoptotic nuclei in both morulae and bl. In conclusion, this study confirms that early cleaving zygotes give rise to better quality bl on day 7 with a lower apoptotic cell ratio as compared to day 7 bl derived from later cleaving embryos and to bl forming on day 8. More interestingly, the authors show that in vivo bull fertility is not correlated to the degree of apoptosis observed in the embryo produced by in vitro fertilization with the semen of the same bulls. Therefore the low fertility of bulls with lower nonreturn rate cannot be explained by the mechanism of embryonic apoptosis. Dr Giovanna Lazzari CIZ, Cremona, Italy Production of cattle lacking prion protein JA Richt, P Kasinathan, AN Hamir, J Castilla, T Sathiyaseelan, F Vargas, J Sathiyaseelan, H Wu, H Matsushita, J Koster, S Kato, I Ishida, C Soto, JM Robl and Y Kuroiwa. Nature Biotechnology, Published online: 31 December 2006; doi: /nbt1271 In this manuscript it has been publish the production of healthy prion protein-knockout cows using nuclear transfer. Prion protein is a natural cellular protein that can become misfolded into infectious particles and cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow disease") and a lethal variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vcjd) in humans. By knocking-out the prion protein gene and producing healthy calves, the authors have demonstrated that normal cellular prion protein is not necessary for the normal development and survival of cattle. The cows are completely healthy. Prion-free calves are healthy and, using an in vitro assay, that their brain tissue does not support the propagation of misfolded prions. Disruption of PrPC expression in mice, a species that does not naturally contract prion diseases, results in no apparent developmental abnormalities. However, the impact of ablating PrPC function in natural host species of prion diseases was unknown. Here the authors report the generation and characterization of PrPCdeficient cattle produced by a sequential genetargeting system. At over 20 months of age, the cattle are clinically, physiologically, histopathologically, immunologically and reproductively normal. Brain tissue homogenates are resistant to prion propagation in vitro as assessed by protein misfolding cyclic amplification. These prion protein-free calves should be useful in investigating the function of normal cellular prion protein and the nature of prion diseases. Additionally, the cows should be useful as a source of prion protein-free products. Dr Alfonso Gutiérrez Adán INIA, Madrid, Spain - 4 -

5 Some Pictures of the last A.E.T.E. Scientific Meeting Dear Colleagues, the very successful previous meeting of the association was held in Zug (Switzerland) the last 8th-9th of September It was a pleasure to visit Zug. It was a wonderful place for the last AETE meeting. I will like to thanks to Rainer Saner for the organization of the fantastic meeting. It was also a wonderful scientific program, thanks to all collaborators for the hard work and efforts. Attached you can find some pictures of the congress. I am very pleased to participate in this AETE meeting, and I am confident that it will be another productive year for the Society and its members. Happy New Year for all of you. Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán - 5 -

6 Main sponsor of the 22 st Scientific Meeting of the A.E.T.E

7 The 23th Scientific Meeting of the A.E.T.E The meeting will take place in the Hotel Calabona, in Alghero, in the Calabona locality, just a few minutes from the historical center of the city. The hotel faces the splendid Riviera of Corallo offereing a spectacular view from the promontory of Capo Caccia. will be held in Alghero - Sardinia 7 TH - 8 TH SEPTEMBER 2007 Invitation On behalf of the European Embryo Transfer Association the local organizing committee cordially invites you to the 23sd scientific meeting of the organization in Alghero, Sardinia, from the 7th to the 8th of September We are glad to found in Alghero a very nice location in the central part of Mediterranean. Air and Sea transportation companies Air One, Ryanair, Alitalia, Meridiana, Volareweb.com, LTU, Snowflake, Hapag-Lloyd Espress, helvetic.com, Air-Berlin, Wind Jet, Tirrenia, Moby Lines, Grimaldi, Corsica Ferries, Linea dei Golfi. The Alghero-Fertilia airport is only 7 km away. The port of Porto Torres is 30 Km away, while the city of Sassari, capitol of the province is 35 Km distant. Airport of Alghero-Fertilia Airport of Olbia Costa Smeralda Hotel Calabona Località Calabona Alghero (SS) - Sardinia, Italy Tel FAX info@hotelcalabona.it - 7 -

8 Scientific Secretariat AETE board Organising Secretariat Maria Dattena Phone: Fax: two workshops - published proceedings - lunch and coffee breaks Language The official language of the conference is English. Scientific program The scientific program will be published in spring of 2007 as part of the second announcement. This will also include the call for papers and the student competition. 1 REGISTRATION FEES Fees for Sponsoring AETE Meeting Main Sponsor Euros General Sponsor Euros Exhibitors Euros Alghero 2007 Full/Associate Member Before 15th July 2007 Full/Associate Member After 15th July 2007 Student Member Before 15th July 2007 Student Member After 15th July Membership Fee Members who pay their annual fee but do not attend the Meeting will receive a copy of the proceedings Euros Costs for advertisement in the Newsletter (2 issues) for one year: mailed to 700 members Full color back page Full inside color page Half inside color page 800 Euros 600 Euros 400 Euros This price includes: - participation at the Meeting (two full days) - 8 -

9 EUROPEAN STATISTICAL DATA OF BOVINE EMBRYO TRANSFER ACTIVITY IN 2005 Sybrand Merton number of flushes year 8 In this report a summary is given of the embryo transfer statistics of 2005 as presented during the annual AETE meeting in September in Zug, Switzerland. The data includes numbers on embryo production (MOET and OPU-IVP) and transfers (fresh and frozen) for bovine and other species (sheep, swine, goat and horse). These data will also be forwarded to the International Embryo Transfer Association (IETS Data Retrieval Committee) for collation on a world-wide scale. Embryo production The total number of flushed donors in 2005 was 16,995. A decline of 2.7% compared to the previous year. Embryo production efficiency averaged 5.68 embryos per donor. These and numbers of the previous years are shown in Figure 1. The total number of OPU sessions was 3,764. A decline of 17% compared to the previous year. Embryo production efficiency increased with 36.4% up to an average of 1.97 embryos per session. These and numbers of the previous years are shown in Figure 2. There were only 7 countries in Europe reporting the use of the OPU-IVP technique of which 90% of the sessions are performed in The Netherlands and Germany. Embryo transfers In 2005 a total of 93,034 embryos were transferred (Figure 3). A decline of 5.2% compared to the previous year. The proportion of frozen embryos was 57% and 54% for in vivo and in vitro embryo per ET session year Figure 1: In vivo embryo production in Europe (number of flushes and number of embryos per flush). number of OPU sessions embryo per OPU session ,5 2 1,5 1 0, year year Figure 2: In vitro embryo production in Europe (number of OPU sessions and number of embryos per session)

10 embryos, respectively. The proportion of OPU-IVP embryos was 6.3%. activities increased again in 2005 with almost 85% (Figure 4) transferred embryos embryo transfers year Sheep Swine Goat Horse year Figure 3. Total number of embryos transferred in Europe. Distribution of the number of flushes and embryo transfers among the top 12 European countries is shown in Table 1. Table 1: Application of MOET in Europe; Top 12. Countries Flushes Embryos Transferred France 5,988 28,467 Netherlands 2,720 13,753 Germany 2,712 13,731 Czech republic 1,151 5,499 Italy 1,120 6,330 Denmark 688 4,210 Spain 559 1,583 Finland 478 2,389 Belgium 451 2,119 England 2,211 Switzerland 319 2,204 Sweden 229 1,238 Other species The use of embryo production and transfer in other species was again limited in Europe. For swine, results were reported only from Czech Republic and Hungary. For sheep, results were reported from Greece, Romania, Hungary and Portugal and for goat, results were reported from Romania, Portugal and Croatia. Figure 4. Number of embryos transferred in Europe. Conclusions Small decrease in in vivo embryo production activities (- 2.7%) Substantial decrease in OPU-IVP activities (- 17%) Increased OPU-IVP production efficiency Activities in other species declining, except for horses Data collection Again I want to encourage members or participants of the AETE meeting to volunteer as contact persons to collate the embryo transfer statistics for their country. As you can read in the proceedings, the data of 2005 was based on information from 24 countries. This means that we still need representatives for a number of countries. In contrast to this situation, 8 countries reported activities in horses in which the transfer

11 ANNOUNCEMENT: ICFAR2007 International Conference on Farm Animal Reproduction, From Egg to Embryo, May 27-30, 2007 With satellite Implications of basic research for Reproduction in Cattle on May 31, 2007 Wonderful place of Venue: Rolduc Abbey, Kerkrade, The Netherlands More information: CORRIGENDUM In the abstract from Gómez et al, (AETE proceedings, 2006; pp:144), data corresponding to Bcl-2 gene are incorrect, as primers used to run the RT-PCR did not correspond to a sequence of the bovine Bcl-2 gene, but to the Bax gene. Therefore, the Bax gene was analyzed using two pairs of primers with no exactly coincident results, and these data should be not taken into account up to a further reanalysis in our laboratory. The authors apologize to AETE membership and readers by the inconvenience

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