Francisco Alberto Garcia-Vazquez

University of Murcia | UM · Physiology

Nanotechnology and its applications have advanced significantly in recent decades, contributing to various fields, including reproduction. This study introduces a novel method to label porcine oocytes with nanoparticles (NPs) bound to oviductin (OVGP1, Ov) for use in Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs). Despite promising developments, concern...

Erysipelas still causes large economic losses to pig industry. Maternal immunity is critical to prevent erysipelas in young animals, thus, intensive vaccination protocols or practices focused on the improvement of the maternally derived immunity could provide substantial benefits. The present study evaluates potential changes in antibodies levels i...

Successful chondrichthyan reproduction in aquaria is indispensable for ex situ conservation programs. 1 However, conventional sperm analyses do not provide comprehensive insights into functional sperm competence. Employing proteomics analysis on spermatozoa and seminal plasma proteins significantly enhances the current knowledge of sperm compositio...

In the ex situ conservation of chondrichthyan species, successful reproduction in aquaria is essential. However, these species often exhibit reduced reproductive success under human care. A key aspect is that conventional sperm analyses do not provide insights into the functional competence of sperm. However, proteomics analysis enables a better un...

Eggs and embryo manipulation is an important biotechnological challenge to enable positioning, entrapment, and selection of reproductive cells to advance into a new era of nature‐like assisted reproductive technologies. Oviductin (OVGP1) is an abundant protein in the oviduct that binds reversibly to the zona pellucida, an extracellular matrix that...

Boar ejaculate is composed of sperm cells and seminal plasma (SP) and is emitted in different fractions (pre-sperm fraction; spermatic-rich fraction; intermediate fraction; post-spermatic fraction), with different composition of SP and volume, which could influence the sperm quality during seminal doses preparation, conservation, and interaction wi...

The microbiome is a crucial influencer in animal development, immune function and health, and it has complex and dynamic interactions with the environment, but little is known about the microbial signatures of inner body fluids. Recent evidence suggests that inner body fluids could be an indicator of the environmental interactions that fish experie...

In a previous study, our group detected the cholecystokinin (CCK) protein in the porcine oviduct. This fact, together with the involvement of CCK in the regulation of sperm protein tyrosine phosphorylation by the modulation of HCO3 - uptake (in mouse and human) suggests a role of CCK during sperm capacitation. Therefore, on the one hand, the expres...

The microbiome is a decisive influencer in the health, development, and/or reproduction of organisms, being an indicator of environmental interactions, 1-3 although little is known about the microbial signatures of inner body fluids. 4-5 This study compares the environmental influence on the microbial profile found in the peripheral blood and semin...

Background: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donors are crucial tools not only for understanding the role of H2S in cellular function but also as promising therapeutic agents for oxidative stress-related diseases. This study aimed to explore the effect of amino acid-derived N-thiocarboxyanhydrides (NTAs), which release physiological H2S levels in the presenc...

Each year, tens of thousands of people worldwide die of end-stage organ failure due to the limited availability of organs for use in transplantation. To meet this clinical demand, one of the last frontiers of regenerative medicine is the generation of humanized organs in pigs from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) via blastocyst complementation. For th...

This study aimed to determine uterine blood flow indices by transabdominal Doppler ultrasound in sows (n = 18) under different conditions: (i) sows after estrus detection (day 0, D0); (ii) sows 2 h after artificial insemination (AI), performed 24 h after detection of estrus (day 1, D1); (iii) sows in early diestrus (day 5, D5). Moreover, three diff...

Background: Advances in technology enable new educational resources geared towards situated learning and leading students to a more active education. Self-directed learning methodologies used along with simulators may represent a good alternative to traditional teaching methods. The aims of this study were to analyse veterinary students' degree of...

The Murciano-Granadina (M-G) breed is the most representative goat breed in Spain. Ultrasound has proven to be a very useful procedure in animal reproduction for detection and monitoring of pregnancy and Doppler ultrasound has made it possible to obtain non-invasive objective measurements of the vascular supply and the functionality of various orga...

Boar ejaculate is released in several well-characterized fractions, differing in terms of sperm concentration, seminal plasma volume, and composition. However, the inclusion of the last part of the ejaculate for artificial insemination (AI) purposes is still under debate due to its controversial effects. Thus, there is a need to study the potential...

The addition of reproductive fluids (RF) to the culture media has shown benefits in different embryonic traits but its long-term effects on the offspring phenotype are still unknown. We aimed to describe such effects in pigs. Blood samples and growth parameters were collected from piglets derived from in vitro-produced embryos (IVP) with or without...

During boar semen processing and distribution, maximizing the work protocols in the laboratories becomes essential for the conservation of seminal doses. One of the recent implementations in the boar studs to improve efficiency has been semi-automatic semen collection systems, which do not allow to discard fractions of the ejaculate. The objective...

Several chondrichthyan species are threatened, and we must increase our knowledge of their reproductive biology in order to establish assisted reproductive protocols for ex situ or in situ endangered species. The small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) is one of the most abundant shark species of the Mediterranean coast and is easy to mainta...

Proteins play an important role in many reproductive functions such as sperm maturation, sperm transit in the female genital tract or sperm-oocyte interaction. However, in general, little information concerning reproductive features is available in the case of aquatic animals. The present study aims to characterize the proteome of both spermatozoa...

Recent evidence supports involvement of the acute phase protein haptoglobin in numerous events during mammalian reproduction. The present study represents an in-depth investigation of haptoglobin expression and secretion in the porcine oviduct and uterus, and assesses its effect on porcine in vitro embryo production. A systematic study was made of...

Elasmobranchs are facing a global conservation crisis due to human activities. 1 The Mediterranean Sea is significantly affected, and predictions show that in the near future, its vulnerable ecosystems will be even more impacted. 2-3 Complete knowledge of elasmobranch reproductive biology is essential to establish assisted reproductive protocols fo...

Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) males follow many reproductive strategies to ensure their paternity. However, little is known about the sperm traits, including morphometric features, that contribute to their reproductive success. Our aim was to study dolphin sperm morphometry (a total of 13 parameters) in two adult males to evaluate (i) pre...

The pH–CO 2 –HCO 3 ⁻ system is a ubiquitous biological regulator with important functional implications for reproduction. Knowledge of the physiological values of its components is relevant for reproductive biology and the optimization of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs). However, in situ measurements of these parameters in the uterus are...

Epididymal sperm shows higher cryoresistance than ejaculated sperm. Although the sperm proteome seems to affect cell cryoresistance, studies aiming at identifying proteins involved in sperm freezing-tolerance are scarce. The aims of this study were to investigate differences of sperm freezability and proteome between epididymal and ejaculated sperm...

Objective: This study assessed the efficacy of nebulization (NEB), also known as fogging, to expose gilts to Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae under field conditions as a potential acclimation strategy. Materials and methods: Phase I consisted of 448 M hyopneumoniae-free gilts from four different batches of a gilt development unit (GDU). On study day 0, bat...

The sperm in the female's reproductive tract undergo changes to fertilize the oocyte (sperm capacitation). These changes are regulated by redox system. However, some assisted reproductive technologies require sperm capacitation under in vitro conditions, though this increases the generation of ROS. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate t...

Background: The current results of in vitro reproduction techniques in pigs, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo development, show high performance with both epididymal and ejaculated spermatozoa. However, the results using ejaculated spermatozoa are even better. Ejaculated spermatozoa are exposed to the secretions of the accessory sem...

Ejaculated sperm are exposed to different environments before encountering the oocyte. However, how the sperm proteome changes during this transit remains unsolved. This study aimed to identify proteomic changes in boar sperm after incubation with male (seminal plasma, SP) and/or female (uterine fluid, UF; and oviductal fluid, OF) reproductive flui...

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the reproductive performance of a new artificial insemination (AI) device specifically designed for gilts (Deep cervical AI, Dp-CAI) by means of which the sperm is deposited deeply in the cervix (8 cm more cranial than in traditional cervical insemination-CAI). New AI techniques have arisen...

To become fertile, mammalian sperm must undergo a series of biochemical and physiological changes known as capacitation. These changes involve crosstalk between metabolic and signaling pathways and can be recapitulated in vitro. In this work, sperm were incubated in the absence of exogenous nutrients (starved) until they were no longer able to move...

The use of cryopreserved dolphin spermatozoa facilitates the exchange of genetic material between aquatic parks and makes spermatozoa accessible to laboratories for studies to further our understanding of marine mammal reproduction. Sperm cryopreservation in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) has been developed for the exchange of gametes...

Spermatozoa must undergo the process of capacitation to fertilize the egg which involves a cell destabilizing process. Capacitation-like changes such as protein tyrosine phosphorylation (PTP) are associated with cryopreservation. The aim of this study was to compare the cryoresistance and capacitation response of epididymal and ejaculated sperm of...

Background: Nowadays, the most common presentation of PCV-2 is the subclinical infection in piglets after weaning. The success of PCV-2 vaccination is associated with the control of the clinical disease as well as the improvement of production parameters. In consequence, the objective of the present study was to analyse the effect of PCV-2 materna...

In small ruminants, testosterone and prolactin plasma concentrations show circannual fluctuations as an adaptation mechanism to their seasonal breeding behavior. Sperm resistance to the freezing-thawing process shows seasonal fluctuation throughout the year, with lower sperm freezability at the beginning of the breeding season when prolactin and te...

The aim of this study was to examine ovine sperm cryoresistance during the rutting season (RS) and its association with sperm head area and seminiferous epithelium proliferation. Small ruminants show fluctuating testosterone levels throughout the year, which could interfere with spermatogenesis and sperm cryopreservation. Ejaculates, testicular bio...

After natural or artificial insemination, spermatozoa start their journey within the uterus to reach the site of fertilization, but only few of them attain this goal. Part of this spermatozoa loss happens in the uterus, in which uterine fluid (UF) seems to be involved. It is known from other species that UF provokes damage to spermatozoa, which is...

EMBRYO RECOVERY FROM THE OVIDUCT OF SOWS SLAUGHTERED AT THE END OF THEIR PRODUCTION STAGE Porcine zygotes necessary to produce transgenic animals by Cripsr-Cas technology can be obtained from healthy animals with an optimal reproductive background which are discarded for market reasons at the end of their productive life. Here it is estimated the p...

In recent decades, new artificial insemination (AI) methods, such as post-cervical AI (PCAI), have been developed in pig. PCAI involves crossing the cervix to deposit the sperm in the uterine body. Although PCAI application in sows is frequent, its application in nulliparous (gilts) females it is still limited due to the difficulty of passing throu...

Background The in vivo concentration of bicarbonate (HCO3⁻), one of the essential sperm capacitating effectors, varies greatly in the different environments sperm go through from cauda epididymis to the fertilisation site. On the contrary, porcine in vitro sperm capacitation and fertilisation media usually contains a standard concentration of 25 mm...

The porcine industry is of great importance worldwide, and so any technological innovation in one or more of the associated production areas is of interest for meat production. Among such innovations in the reproduction area, post-cervical or intrauterine artificial insemination (PCAI) has emerged as a new approach in artificial insemination (AI)....

Sperm cryopreservation protocols are not well defined in many wild species such as the mouflon. The aim was to study the effect of different concentrations of EY on mouflon epididymal sperm cryosurvival. Samples were collected by the flushing method and cryopreserved by the conventional freezing technique in straws using a TEST (TES, Tris, glucose)...

Changes in calcium ions constitute a central intracellular signalling mechanism. Recently, two- pore channels (TPCs) have been identified as the endo-lysosomal Ca 2+ channels and key components of the NAADP receptor. Subsequent studies with TPC2 KO mice have demonstrated a role in different organs and systems and the importance in pathologies such...

Self-learning has been proposed as an active and plausible methodology to promote the capability of students to reach assigned objectives. During the academic year of 2016-2017, the course of Veterinary Physiology (included in the degree of Veterinary Medicine, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain) was given using a self-learning method through the...

Over recent decades, education has increasingly focused on studentcentered learning. Guided practices represent a new way of learning for undergraduate students of physiology, whereby the students turn into teacher-students and become more deeply involved in the subject by preparing and teaching a practical (laboratory) class to their peers. The go...

La globalización que ha sufrido la educación superior en los últimos años ha supuesto un cambio en los métodos tradicionales de docencia donde se han incorporado nuevas estrategias de aprendizaje. En este sentido se han ido implementado diferentes metodologías docentes como son tutoriales y tareas grupales, clases interactivas, casos clínicos, apre...

The acute phase protein haptoglobin (Hp) is involved in different events of mammalian reproduction. Our previous studies identified Hp mRNA at oviductal level. Also, this expression was localized at epithelium cells. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the presence of Hp protein in the oviductal fluid by Western blot and proteomic analysis. For...

The oviduct undergoes changes under the influence of steroid hormones during the estrous cycle. PEBP4 is a protein secreted in the epididymis to the seminal plasma, and has been related with the promotion of sperm motility in pig (An et al. 2012). The aim of this study was to determine the expression of PEBP4 in the porcine oviduct during the diffe...

The use of cryopreserved dolphin spermatozoa facilitates the exchange of genetic material between aquatic parks and makes spermatozoa accessible to laboratories for studies to further our understanding of marine mammal reproduction. Heterologous IVF, a replacement for homologous IVF, could provide a means to test the sperm fertility potential; to s...

The effect of 15-deoxy-Δ 12,14-prostaglandin J2 (PGJ2) on its receptor, the sperm peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), has been linked to numerous biological activities, including boar sperm capacitation (Soriano-Úbeda, 2013, The 1 st EPICONCEPT Annual Meeting, Antalya, Turkey). The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect...

La gamificación en Fisiología Veterinaria: FisioQgame Gamification in Veterinary Physiology: FisioQgame García-Vázquez, F.A.; Matás, C.; Romar, R.; Coy, P.; Gadea, J.; Ruiz, S. Departamento de Fisiología. Universidad de Murcia. Correo electrónico: fagarcia@um.es (García-Vázquez, F.A.) La gamificación, definida como la introducción de elementos de j...

Percepción del estrés por parte de los estudiantes que imparten prácticas dirigidas de Fisiología Veterinaria Perception of stress by students who teach guided practices in Veterinary Physiology Gadea, J; Romar, R.; Matás, C.; Coy, P.; Ruiz, S.; García-Vázquez, F.A. Desde el curso 2010-11, empleamos en las asignaturas Fisiología Veterinaria I y II...

Impacto de las prácticas dirigidas de Fisiología Veterinaria sobre algunos parámetros fisiológicos en los estudiantes Impact of the guided practices in Veterinary Physiology on some students' physiological parameters Romar, R.; Gadea, J.; Matás, C.; Coy, P.; Ruiz, S.; García-Vázquez F.A. Grupo de innovación docente FisioVet, Facultad de Veterinaria...

Differences between the in vitro and in vivo environment in which fertilization occurs seem to play a key role in the low efficiency of porcine in vitro fertilization (IVF). This work proposes an IVF system based on the in vivo oviductal periovulatory environment. The combined use of an IVF medium at the pH found in the oviduct in the periovulatory...