Field testing of single-administration porcine zona pellucida contraceptive vaccines in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen T. Rutberg ◽  
Ricky E. Naugle ◽  
John W. Turner ◽  
Mark A. Fraker ◽  
Douglas R. Flanagan
Keyword(s):  
Odocoileus Virginianus ◽  
Zona Pellucida ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Specific Protein ◽  
First Year ◽  
Single Administration ◽  
Contraceptive Agents ◽  
Efficient Delivery ◽  
Wildlife Populations ◽  
Contraceptive Vaccines

Context Many contraceptive agents have demonstrated effectiveness in wild species, most notably immunocontraceptives such as GnRH conjugates and porcine zona pellucida (PZP). The major challenge in using these agents to control deer and other wildlife populations in the field now lies with safe, effective and efficient delivery to a large-enough proportion of the population to suppress growth. Aims Because deer and other wildlife are typically difficult to access for treatment, contraceptives that require multiple or repeated treatments will be of limited management value. To address this constraint, we conducted a field study of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on Fripp Island, SC, USA, to test two different technologies for achieving single-administration, multi-year efficacy in PZP vaccines. Methods Between 2005 and 2010, we captured, ear-tagged and blood-sampled a total of 245 individual adult and yearling female deer. Deer were hand-injected at capture with one of two preparations of SpayVac or a combination native PZP–adjuvant emulsion plus PZP–adjuvant incorporated into lactide–glycolide polymer pellets engineered to release at 1, 3 and 12 months post-treatment. Pregnancy was determined from serum assays of pregnancy-specific protein B sampled from captured deer. Key results Aqueous SpayVac, and the PZP–adjuvant-containing polymer pellets manufactured through a heat extrusion (H/X) method administered simultaneously with PZP–AdjuVac or modified Freund’s complete adjuvant emulsions reduced pregnancy rates from control levels by 95–100% in the first year after treatment, and by 65–70% in the second year after treatment. Conclusions A single, hand-injected vaccination with SpayVac or PZP–adjuvant emulsion combined with H/X PZP pellets reduced fertility for multiple years. Implications Single-treatment, multi-year immunocontraceptive vaccines bring contraceptive management of wildlife populations one step closer. Future efforts should focus on improving handling and storage, developing technologies for remote delivery, and addressing remaining regulatory and management concerns.

scholarly journals Field test of a single-injection gonadotrophin-releasing hormone immunocontraceptive vaccine in female white-tailed deer

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 177 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Gionfriddo ◽  
John D. Eisemann ◽  
Kevin J. Sullivan ◽  
Ronald S. Healey ◽  
Lowell A. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Effective Means ◽  
First Year ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Releasing Hormone ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Contraceptive Agents ◽  
Silver Spring ◽  
Gonadotrophin Releasing Hormone ◽  
And Control ◽  
Immunocontraceptive Vaccine

The development and use of safe, effective and practical wildlife contraceptive agents could reduce reproduction in locally overabundant deer populations in situations where traditional management tools such as regulated hunting cannot be employed. GonaCon Immunocontraceptive Vaccine (the commercial name for a particular gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-based emulsion) was tested in adult female white-tailed deer in a fenced herd near Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. Observations of udder condition were used to identify does that had become pregnant. Necropsy observations, histopathology and serum concentrations of anti-GnRH antibodies, luteinising hormone and progesterone were used to compare health and reproductive status of treated (n = 28) and control (n = 15) deer. After receiving one injection of GonaCon, 88% of treated deer did not become pregnant during the first year and 47% did not become pregnant during the second year after vaccination. No adverse health effects related to vaccination with GonaCon were detected, except for localised injection-site reactions in five (29%) of 17 examined, vaccinated deer. Treatment with GonaCon can be a safe and effective means of inducing temporary infertility in wild white-tailed deer. Ultimately, the management value of GonaCon will be determined by natural-resource professionals who use it as one of many tools to manage deer populations.

Field Testing The Polysaccharide Schizophyllan: Results of The First Year

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd Leonhardt ◽  
Burkhard Ernst ◽  
Sabrina Reimann ◽  
Alexander Steigerwald ◽  
Florian Lehr
Keyword(s):  
Field Testing ◽  
First Year

Corrigendum to: Multi-year fertility reduction in free-roaming feral horses with single-injection immunocontraceptive formulations

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meeghan E. Gray ◽  
David S. Thain ◽  
Elissa Z. Cameron ◽  
Lowell A. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Management Technique ◽  
Feral Horses ◽  
Fertility Status ◽  
Fertility Reduction ◽  
Injection Methods ◽  
Gonadotrophin Releasing Hormone ◽  
Wildlife Populations ◽  
Contraceptive Vaccines ◽  
Multiple Treatments ◽  
Contraceptive Treatment

Context. Contraception is increasingly used as a management technique to reduce fertility in wildlife populations; however, the feasibility of contraceptive formulations has been limited until recently because they have required multiple treatments to achieve prolonged infertility. Aims. We tested the efficacy and evaluated potential side effects of two contraceptive formulations, a porcine zona pellucida (PZP) formulation, SpayVac� and a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) formulation GonaCon-B?, in a population of free-roaming feral horses (Equus caballus). Both formulations were developed to provide several years of infertility with one injection. Methods. Females were treated in June 2005 with either GonaCon-B (n�=�24), SpayVac (n�=�20), adjuvant only (n�=�22), or received no injection (n�=�18). Females were monitored for fertility status year round for 3 years after treatment. Key results. Both contraceptive treatments significantly reduced fertility for 3 years. Fertility rates for GonaCon-B mares were 39%, 42% and 31%, respectively, and 37%, 50% and 44% for SpayVac mares. During the same seasons, 61%, 67% and 76% of control females were fertile. We found no significant effects from contraceptive treatment on the sex ratio of foals, birthing season or foal survival. Conclusions. These results demonstrated that both vaccines are capable of significantly reducing fertility for several years without boosters. Implications. Contraceptive vaccines examined in the present study represent a useful tool for the management of feral horses, because of their being efficacious for 3 years in the absence of booster immunisations.

Hormonal control of reproduction in sheep

1975 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 79-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Field Testing ◽  
Hormonal Control ◽  
First Year ◽  
Department Of Agriculture ◽  
Sheep Farmer ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Natural Service ◽  
Similar Basis ◽  
Breeding Techniques

In summer 1973, the sheep farmer in most parts of the Irish Republic could telephone his local cattle Artificial Insemination (AI) station and ask for a technician to treat his ewes for ‘early-lamb’ (December/January) production with intravaginal sponges and pregnant mare's serum gonadotrophin (PMSG). The 60 p per ewe service, which first became available at that time, covered two visits by the technician: the first to insert sponges; the second, 14 days later, to withdraw them and administer the gonadotrophin. On the basis of considerable experimental evidence, the farmer could expect about 60 to 70% of ewes treated to conceive to first services and lamb within a short period of each other, and some 80% to produce offspring to the combined first and second services. The scheme, based on natural service, was used by several hundred farmers in that first year of operation, and was made available on a similar basis again in 1974. The introduction of this cheap, effective and simple technique for the hormonal control of reproduction in sheep was the result of considerable activity over the years by Dr Sean Crowley and his staff in An Foras Taluntais and various workers in University College, Dublin (UCD). Due credit must be given, however, to the Irish Department of Agriculture, which sponsored extensive field testing of controlled breeding techniques in 197/172, and subsequently arranged with cattle AI stations to provide countrywide coverage on a fee per ewe basis from 1973.

scholarly journals Contraceptive Vaccines Based on the Zona Pellucida Glycoproteins for Dogs and Other Wildlife Population Management

2011 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satish K. Gupta ◽  
Villuppanoor A. Srinivasan ◽  
Pankaj Suman ◽  
Sriraman Rajan ◽  
Singanallur B. Nagendrakumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Zona Pellucida ◽  
Population Management ◽  
Wildlife Population ◽  
Contraceptive Vaccines

scholarly journals Multi-year fertility reduction in free-roaming feral horses with single-injection immunocontraceptive formulations

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meeghan E. Gray ◽  
David S. Thain ◽  
Elissa Z. Cameron ◽  
Lowell A. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Management Technique ◽  
Feral Horses ◽  
Fertility Status ◽  
Fertility Reduction ◽  
Injection Methods ◽  
Gonadotrophin Releasing Hormone ◽  
Wildlife Populations ◽  
Contraceptive Vaccines ◽  
Multiple Treatments ◽  
Contraceptive Treatment

Context. Contraception is increasingly used as a management technique to reduce fertility in wildlife populations; however, the feasibility of contraceptive formulations has been limited until recently because they have required multiple treatments to achieve prolonged infertility. Aims. We tested the efficacy and evaluated potential side effects of two contraceptive formulations, a porcine zona pellucida (PZP) formulation, SpayVac® and a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) formulation GonaCon-B™, in a population of free-roaming feral horses (Equus caballus). Both formulations were developed to provide several years of infertility with one injection. Methods. Females were treated in June 2005 with either GonaCon-B (n = 24), SpayVac (n = 20), adjuvant only (n = 22), or received no injection (n = 18). Females were monitored for fertility status year round for 3 years after treatment. Key results. Both contraceptive treatments significantly reduced fertility for 3 years. Fertility rates for GonaCon-B mares were 39%, 42% and 31%, respectively, and 37%, 50% and 44% for SpayVac mares. During the same seasons, 61%, 67% and 76% of control females were fertile. We found no significant effects from contraceptive treatment on the sex ratio of foals, birthing season or foal survival. Conclusions. These results demonstrated that both vaccines are capable of significantly reducing fertility for several years without boosters. Implications. Contraceptive vaccines examined in the present study represent a useful tool for the management of feral horses, because of their being efficacious for 3 years in the absence of booster immunisations.

scholarly journals Genetic diversity and mate selection in a reintroduced population of gray wolves

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Ausband
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Mate Selection ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
First Year ◽  
Average Heterozygosity ◽  
Gray Wolves ◽  
Pup Survival ◽  
Wildlife Populations ◽  
First Year Of Life

AbstractThe genetic composition of an individual can markedly affect its survival, reproduction, and ultimately fitness. As some wildlife populations become smaller, conserving genetic diversity will be a conservation challenge. Many imperiled species are already supported through population augmentation efforts and we often do not know if or how genetic diversity is maintained in translocated species. As a case study for understanding the maintenance of genetic diversity in augmented populations, I wanted to know if genetic diversity (i.e., observed heterozygosity) remained high in a population of gray wolves in the Rocky Mountains of the U.S. > 20 years after reintroduction. Additionally, I wanted to know if a potential mechanism for such diversity was individuals with below average genetic diversity choosing mates with above average diversity. I also asked whether there was a preference for mating with unrelated individuals. Finally, I hypothesized that mated pairs with above average heterozygosity would have increased survival of young. Ultimately, I found that females with below average heterozygosity did not choose mates with above average heterozygosity and wolves chose mates randomly with respect to genetic relatedness. Pup survival was not higher for mated pairs with above average heterozygosity in my models. The dominant variables predicting pup survival were harvest rate during their first year of life and years pairs were mated. Ultimately, genetic diversity was relatively unchanged > 20 years after reintroduction. The mechanism for maintaining such diversity does not appear related to individuals preferentially choosing more genetically diverse mates. Inbreeding avoidance, however, appears to be at least one mechanism maintaining genetic diversity in this population.

scholarly journals Mice expressing aberrant sperm-specific protein PMIS2 produce normal-looking but fertilization-incompetent spermatozoa

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (14) ◽  
pp. 2671-2679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryo Yamaguchi ◽  
Yoshitaka Fujihara ◽  
Masahito Ikawa ◽  
Masaru Okabe
Keyword(s):  
Zona Pellucida ◽  
Cumulus Cells ◽  
Specific Protein ◽  
Aberrant Expression ◽  
Sperm Transport ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Sperm Binding ◽  
Sperm Membrane ◽  
Domain 3

Eight kinds of gene-disrupted mice (Clgn, Calr3, Pdilt, Tpst2, Ace, Adam1a, Adam2, and Adam3) show impaired sperm transition into the oviducts and defective sperm binding to the zona pellucida. All of these knockout strains are reported to lack or show aberrant expression of a disintegrin and metallopeptidase domain 3 (ADAM3) on the sperm membrane. We performed proteomic analyses of the proteins of these infertile spermatozoa to clarify whether the abnormal function is caused exclusively by a deficiency in ADAM3 expression. Two proteins, named PMIS1 and PMIS2, were missing in spermatozoa from Clgn-disrupted mice. To study their roles, we generated two gene-disrupted mouse lines. Pmis1-knockout mice were fertile, but Pmis2-knockout males were sterile because of a failure of sperm transport into the oviducts. Pmis2-deficient spermatozoa also failed to bind to the zona pellucida. However, they showed normal fertilizing ability when eggs surrounded with cumulus cells were used for in vitro fertilization. Further analysis revealed that these spermatozoa lacked the ADAM3 protein, but the amount of PMIS2 was also severely reduced in Adam3-deficient spermatozoa. These results suggest that PMIS2 might function both as the ultimate factor regulating sperm transport into the oviducts and in modulating sperm–zona binding.

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