Plasma anti-Müllerian hormone concentration as a predictive endocrine marker for selection of donor lambs to improve success in juvenile in vitro embryo transfer programs
Hayley McGrice
A C , Jennifer M. Kelly B , David O. Kleemann B , Karen L. Kind A , Alissa J. Hampton A , Patrick Hannemann A , Simon K. Walker B and William H. E. J. van Wettere A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, Australia.
B South Australian Research and Development Institute, Turretfield Research Centre, Rosedale, SA 5350, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: hayley.mcgrice@adelaide.edu.au
Reproduction, Fertility and Development 32(4) 383-391 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD18498
Submitted: 6 December 2018 Accepted: 17 July 2019 Published: 13 November 2019
Abstract
The use of juvenile in vitro embryo transfer (JIVET) is limited by variation between prepubertal lambs in ovarian response to exogenous gonadotrophins. In cattle, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is a predictive endocrine marker of antral follicle count. In this study we measured plasma AMH concentrations in lambs at 3 and 5 weeks of age and determined associations between AMH concentrations and ovarian response to gonadotrophins and in vitro blastocyst production at 6–8 weeks of age in a JIVET program. At 5 weeks, AMH (n = 38) was positively correlated with surface antral follicle count (r = 0.87, P < 0.001), blastocysts produced (r = 0.92, P < 0.001) and blastocysts produced as a proportion of oocytes collected (r = 0.44, P < 0.01) or cleaved (r = 0.43, P < 0.01). Similar associations were observed between AMH at 3 weeks (n = 30) and follicle number (r = 0.70, P < 0.05) and blastocysts produced (r = 0.87, P < 0.05). Lambs with high (>2.2 ng mL−1) compared with medium (0.4–2.2 ng mL−1) and low (<0.4 ng mL−1) AMH at 5 weeks had more antral follicles (mean (± s.e.m.) 118.7 ± 13.9 vs 68.2 ± 8.1 and 30.4 ± 12.3 respectively; P < 0.05) and more blastocysts produced (mean (± s.e.m.) 54.9 ± 6.9 vs 18.9 ± 4.0 and 7.5 ± 6.1 respectively; P < 0.05). These results suggest that AMH concentration at 5 weeks of age can be used to select donor lambs which enhance the success of JIVET programs.
Additional keywords: ewe lambs, sheep.
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