LORI.bovine

Hydrops and fetal death after IVF; a video

Keywords: hydrops, abortion, IVF, bovine

Click on this link to play the video (Resolution best on smaller screens).

Notes: 

It is sometimes difficult or impossible to obtain embryos from super ovulated cows. In these animals, in vitro fertilization (IVF) can bypass this problem. IVF also holds promise for research and the production of embryos when oocytes are not available. For example, the production of embryos from stem cells may even be possible. By contrast, the advantages of cloning are perhaps obvious. Sometimes cloning is done through the use of blastomeres, but more often nowadays through the use of nuclear transfer from somatic cells.

Unfortunately serious complications can arise when either IVF or cloning is used. These problems include early embryonic death, abortion, excess of fetal size, hydrops of the fetal membranes, skeletal fractures, a high incidence of neonatal death and increased death rate in the early years of life. These problems are more accentuated in cloning than IVF, but even in IVF, problems such as hydrops occur far more frequently than in natural pregnancies.

In this case, IVF was done only after repeated attempts to collect embryos had failed using conventional methods.