Table 1.
Effect of morpholinos on pregnancy and conceptus development in sheep
| Morpholino | Study one: Day 16 after mating |
Study two: Day 20 after mating |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pregnancy rate,* % | Conceptus development | IFN-τ in uterine flush | BNCs, % | Pregnancy rate,* % | Conceptus development | IFN-τ in uterine flush | BNCs, % | |
| MAO-std | 100 (5/5) | Elongated, filamentous | 282 ± 50 | 12 ± 1 | 100 (5/5) | Elongated, filamentous | ND | ND |
| MAO-5mis | 100 (5/5) | Elongated, filamentous | 232 ± 50 | 10 ± 1 | 83 (5/6) | Elongated,filamentous | ND | ND |
| MAO-env | 100 (5/5) | Growth-retarded, filamentous† | 68 ± 10 | 1 ± 1 | 20 (1/5) | Not present‡ | ND | ND |
All ewes received intrauterine injections of morpholinos on day 8 after mating and were hysterectomized on either day 16 or 20. ND, not determined.
*Pregnancy rate data are expressed as percentage of ewes with a conceptus recovered from the uterine lumen by flush before hysterectomy (day 16) or present in the uterine lumen at hysterectomy (day 20) (pregnant/total).
†Conceptuses were growth-retarded, slightly elongated, and fragile with no detectable trophoblast giant BNCs.
‡The single recovered conceptus was severely growth-retarded as compared with conceptuses recovered from MAO-5mis and MAO-std controls and contained no detectable BNCs (data not shown).