Maternal organism and embryo biosensoring: insights from ruminants

In mammals, the birth of a viable and healthy progeny involves a sequence of complex biological processes and several critical points that have to be successfully overcome. In terms of the contribution to pregnancy (onset, progress, and issue), the male differs from the female. Indeed, whereas the paternal contribution is represented by the sperm, the mother not only produces the gametes (oocyte), but also hosts the whole gestation in a reproductive tract until term. Nutrition, stress, infections or endocrine disruptors have been identified as factors that affect gamete quality and fertilisation, journey of the early embryo through the oviduct, cellular interactions between endometrium and hatched blastocyst or conceptus, foeto-placental development or parturition (Fleming et al., 2004; Leroy et al., 2008).

Source: Journal of Reproductive Immunology - January 7, 2015 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Olivier Sandra, Fabienne Constant, Anais Vitorino Carvalho, Caroline Eozénou, Damien Valour, Vincent Mauffré, Isabelle Hue, Gilles Charpigny Source Type: research