M.A.M. Taverne's research while affiliated with Utrecht University and other places
What is this page?
This page lists the scientific contributions of an author, who either does not have a ResearchGate profile, or has not yet added these contributions to their profile.
It was automatically created by ResearchGate to create a record of this author's body of work. We create such pages to advance our goal of creating and maintaining the most comprehensive scientific repository possible. In doing so, we process publicly available (personal) data relating to the author as a member of the scientific community.
If you're a ResearchGate member, you can follow this page to keep up with this author's work.
If you are this author, and you don't want us to display this page anymore, please let us know.
It was automatically created by ResearchGate to create a record of this author's body of work. We create such pages to advance our goal of creating and maintaining the most comprehensive scientific repository possible. In doing so, we process publicly available (personal) data relating to the author as a member of the scientific community.
If you're a ResearchGate member, you can follow this page to keep up with this author's work.
If you are this author, and you don't want us to display this page anymore, please let us know.
Publications (205)
The objective of the present study was to evaluate the changes in maternal and fetal arterial acid-base variables withdrawn from catheterized dams and fetuses during the last days before and during calving. The average gestation length in nine cows with chronically catheterized fetuses was 285 ± 10 (SD) days. The arterial acid-base variables of a c...
BOVINE PRENATAL, PERINATAL AND NEONATAL MEDICINE is a comprehensive modern textbook providing the latest fundamental and practical information on the perinatal period in the cow and her calf/calves, with an emphasis on the dairy cow-calf dyad. It is a ‘pracademic’ book – using academic evidence to support clinical decision-making by veterinary prac...
The aim of this study was to create a fetal heart rate (FHR) reference curve for singleton bovine fetuses in the first trimester of gestation and to determine its possible relationship with the outcome of pregnancy. Forty-eight Holstein-Friesian cows with one fetus and five cows with twins were used. Fetal heart beatings were recorded on videotape...
The aim of this analysis was to determine whether pregnancy loss (PL) after embryo transfer (ET) in cattle was related to maternal progesterone (P4) concentrations during and shortly after ET, and maternal bovine pregnancy-associated glycoprotein-1 (bPAG-1) concentrations in plasma at days 25-35 of gestation. Embryos (n=260) were produced either in...
Various parenteral treatment forms of oxytocin, as often used under praxis circumstances, may act differently on contractility of the uterus during the first days of the puerperium. Various patterns of such induced uterotonic responses may lead to alterations in the emptying characteristics of the uterine lumen, thus influencing, as a late conseque...
Transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicle aspiration was performed repeatedly in 5 Dutch Warmblood mares during a time span of 3 months (mid-June-mid-September 1992). During 24 aspiration sessions (4–7/mare), 200 follicles were aspirated and 34 oocytes retrieved, giving oocyte recovery rates of 12.3% and 24.4% when using single channel needles or dou...
Repeated ultrasonographic observation of fetal movements was used to distinguish movement patterns and to investigate the rate of occurrence and temporal organisation of these patterns (rest-activity cycles) during the last three weeks of gestation in the pig. By means of transabdominal ultrasonography with a 3.5MHz linear array transducer, motilit...
The final stages of cervical ripening and parturition resemble an inflammatory process. Although the role of cytokines in both spontaneous and experimentally induced parturitions has been described in several small laboratory animals and humans, the involvement of pro-inflammatory and regulatory cytokines in physiologic parturition in cows has not...
Daily separation of sows and piglets during lactation, intermittent suckling (IS), improves feed intake and postweaning adaptation in piglets. The aim of the current study was to determine how, in piglets that have been subjected to IS, age at weaning and the duration of the preceding IS period contribute to postweaning adaptation through effects o...
Assessment of fetal motility is an approach to evaluate the development and function of the nervous system before birth. Reference values for the time of first occurrence and the incidence of normal fetal movements are indispensable for studies in which prenatal motor activity is applied as a model to study the central and peripheral nervous system...
The bovine cervix contains a large amount of smooth muscle cells distributed over an outer muscular layer and within a stromal layer. The stromal layer exhibits no electromyographic (EMG) activity at parturition. This leads to the question whether the stromal smooth muscle cells of the bovine cervix are prepared to contract with parturition, or whe...
At present no standard pharmacological intervention strategy is available to reduce these adverse effects of birth asphyxia. In the present study we aimed to evaluate placental transfer of allopurinol, an inhibitor of XOR. For this purpose, fetal catheterization of the jugular vein was conducted in five late pregnant sows (one fetus per sow). At 24...
The aims of this study were (i) to describe the changes in the volume of large ovarian follicles (diameter >3 cm) during the 48 h egg laying cycle in farmed ostriches, and (ii) to quantify factors affecting the volume of the largest measured follicle and the plasma concentrations of progesterone (P(4)) and estradiol-17beta (E(2)beta). In eight egg-...
Contents Compared with other parts of the reproductive cycle, the parturition process of domestic animals has received relatively little attention from researchers during the last two decades. Yet, interventions during parturition, either by the owner or the veterinarian, are frequently judged necessary and perinatal losses in most of the domestic...
Collagen is denatured in the gradual cervical ripening process during late pregnancy, already before the onset of final cervical ripening at parturition. Matrix Metallo Proteinases (MMPs) might be responsible for this process. To investigate the presence and potential function of MMPs at the different stages of the ripening process, serial cervical...
Previously we demonstrated that pre-ovulatory LH and post-ovulatory progesterone (P4) concentrations in plasma were low and embryo development was retarded when sows were induced to ovulate during lactation by submitting them to intermittent suckling (IS). The present study investigated whether this was due to: (1) stage of lactation when IS was in...
This presentation will focus on the assessment of the condition of the piglet and calf during and shortly after birth and will review some of the physiological and clinical factors that may have played a role during their delivery and influenced their viability at birth.
The objective of the current study was to investigate whether plasma citrulline or intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP) concentrations might be used as longitudinal markers for small intestinal function in piglets after weaning. Plasma citrulline and I-FABP concentrations were measured longitudinally in weaned and unweaned piglets, and re...
Perinatal asphyxia results in tissue and cellular changes during the reperfusion period and clinical signs like perinatal mortality and decreased vitality at birth in newborn piglets. This study aimed to develop and validate a model of birth asphyxia, mimicking the evolvement of birth asphyxia in natural farrowings by conducting umbilical cord clam...
It has since long been demonstrated that perinatal asphyxia in pigs can result in perinatal mortality, decreased viability/vitality at birth and reduced survival rates until 10 days of age. In human perinatology much interest is presently focussed on strategies to prevent adverse outcome arising from birth asphyxia. Given the rather high perinatal...
Prenatal stress can affect the offspring's behaviour, physiology, and immune parameters. This paper summarises and discusses experimental and field studies on prenatal maternal stress in pigs. Often, elevated maternal corticosteroid concentrations during gestation are used to model prenatal stress. We used prolonged oral administration of cortisol...
To increase our understanding of the endocrine changes associated with parturition in dogs, plasma concentrations of progesterone (P4), 15-ketodihydroprostaglandin F(2alpha) (PGFM), estradiol-17-beta (E2beta), cortisol, ACTH, prolactin (PRL), LH, and FSH were measured in six spontaneously whelping bitches and in six bitches in which parturition was...
During lactation, daily separation of sow and piglets, intermittent suckling (IS), can induce lactational oestrus and ovulation. This study examined effects of IS on subsequent early embryo survival and development. Multiparous Topigs40 sows were separated from their piglets for either 12 consecutive hours per day (IS12, n = 13) or two times for 6...
The objectives of the current study were to determine how intermittent suckling (IS) affects nursing behavior, litter activity, and general behavioral patterns during lactation, and whether IS during an extended lactation period results in behavioral patterns associated with piglet distress. Intermittent suckling was applied either with 6-h separat...
While oxytocin is widely used in the treatment of dystocia in dogs, there is little information about its secretion before and during normal unassisted whelping. We therefore measured plasma oxytocin concentrations during late pregnancy and the expulsive stage of parturition. Blood samples were collected from eight dogs at 3-min intervals during a...
In this study we described and analysed changes in the numbers of large ovarian follicles (diameter 6.1-9.0 cm) and in the plasma concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH) and estradiol-17beta (E(2)beta) in relation to individual egg production figures of farmed ostriches (Struthio camelus spp.) throughout one year. Ultrasound scanning and blood s...
The cervix must regain its normal diameter after parturition. Until now, little has been known about the pattern of cervical closure and the possible influences of myometrial and cervical contractions in this process. We continuously measured the cervical diameter with ultrasound cervimetry during the first 48h after calving in six cows with retain...
The objective of this study was to determine whether intestinal blood flow can be measured adequately in group-housed animals using the recently developed Physiogear™ I wireless flowmeter. We used the weaner pig as one of many possible animal models. Four 7-kg piglets were instrumented with a 3-mm flowprobe around the superior mesenteric artery (SM...
An experiment was conducted to determine if the improved creep feed intake observed during intermittent suckling (IS) is important for postweaning performance. Therefore, creep feed intake of litters was assessed, and within litters, eaters and noneaters were distinguished using chromic oxide as an indigestible marker. Batches of sows were suckled...
The aim of the study was to measure the effect of creep feeding during lactation on net absorption in the small intestine at 4 days after weaning. Intermittent suckling was used to increase creep feed intake during lactation. Creep feed containing chromic oxide was provided. Based on the colour of the faeces, piglets were classified as `eaters¿ or...
Prenatal stress has been shown to program responsiveness of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) and behavior in offspring. In pig husbandry, sows are exposed to stressful conditions during gestation. Previously, cortisol treatment of pregnant sows has been shown to alter stress responsiveness and immunological parameters in their pig...
In this study we investigated the temporal relationship between ovulation, egg formation, oviposition and the changes in plasma concentrations of progesterone, luteinizing hormone and estradiol-17beta during the egg laying cycle in farmed ostriches. In 10 egg-producing birds, transcutaneous ultrasound scanning was performed at 3h intervals and bloo...
Concentrations of bovine placental lactogen (bPL) were determined in fetal plasma samples by twelve double-antibody competitive radioimmunoassay systems (RIA I-XII) based on either recombinant bPL (non-glycosylated) or native bPL (glycosylated). Both preparations were used as standard and tracer, and for primary antisera production. The minimum det...
The objective of this study was to determine whether intermittent suckling (IS) combined with an extended lactation can reduce postweaning growth check in pigs. Three weaning regimens [conventional weaning (CW), IS with 6-h separation intervals (IS6), and IS with 12-h separation intervals (IS12)] were compared. In CW (n = 17 litters), litters had c...
In the limited number of studies that reported on the relation between factors affecting birth of individual piglets and acid-base balance values at birth, predominantly simple correlation coefficients have been used. The aim of the present study was to analyse the relation between factors affecting delivery of individual liveborn piglets and acid-...
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of activin-A and follistatin on in vitro primordial and primary follicle development in goats. To study primordial follicle development (experiment 1), pieces of ovarian cortex were cultured in vitro for 5 days in minimal essential medium (MEM) supplemented with activin-A (0, 10 or 100 ng/...
Modern pig farming is still confronted with high perinatal piglet losses which are mainly contributed to factors associated with the progress of piglet expulsion. Therefore the aim of this study was to identify sow- and piglet factors affecting the duration of the expulsive stage of farrowing and piglet birth intervals in spontaneous farrowing sows...
To design a treatment that increases plasma corticosteroid concentrations to mimic prenatal stress in pregnant sows.
24 pregnant sows.
Sows were assigned to 1 of 4 treatment groups; treatment consisted of twice-daily oral administration of a placebo or 20, 60, or 180 mg of hydrocortisone acetate (HCA)/sow from 7 to 11 weeks of gestation. Blood and...
The triggering mechanism for parturition in the bitch remains unclear. Consequently, the development of drugs to successfully induce parturition in the dog has been difficult. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the progesterone-receptor blocker aglépristone for the induction of parturition in beagle bitches. The course of parturi...
Calves derived from IVP embryos may suffer from the large offspring syndrome that has been related to effects of in vitro culture on the intrinsic quality of the embryo. Limited information is available on the role of the placenta in such cases. In this study, bovine pregnancy-associated glycoprotein (bPAG) was used as a marker to test whether plac...
The Large Offspring Syndrome has frequently been reported for in vitro produced calves. The objective of this study was to determine whether any differences in body dimensions (biparietal diameter of the cranium (BPD), cross-section of the abdomen at the insertion of the umbilical cord (CAU)) and heart rate (FHR) can be detected during the first 10...
An experiment was conducted to study effects of intermittent suckling on creep feed intake and weight gain of litters. Loss of weight and backfat during lactation, as well as reproductive performance, were also measured. Batches of multiparous sows (Parity 1 to 12, 4.1 on average) were either suckled intermittently (IS, eight batches; n = 50) or co...
An experiment was conducted to study effects of intermittent suckling on creep feed intake and weight gain of litters. Loss of weight and backfat during lactation, as well as reproductive performance, were also measured. Batches of multiparous sows (Parity 1 to 12, 4.1 on average) were either suckled intermittently (IS, eight batches; n = 50) or co...
The cow could be a suitable model for studies concerning functional changes of the cervix. However, as in many species, the bovine cervix becomes softer in texture during the follicular phase of the estrous cycle compared to the luteal phase. In the present study, we explored if changes in the collagen network take place that could be responsible f...
The objective of the present study was to assess if cervical ripeness could be quantified by measuring the percentage of denaturation of the collagen network of the stromal layer. Biopsy specimens from the caudal part of the cervix were obtained from nine pluriparous cows between Days 149 and 157 of gestation (second-trimester biopsy), at exactly D...
Epidemiological studies in humans linking adult disease to growth in utero indicate that prenatal life is a critical period for the appropriate development of the reproductive axis. The aim of this study was to compare ovarian development in intrauterine growth-retarded and normally grown piglets originating from the same litter. Intrauterine growt...
Inoculation with Actinomyces pyogenes and administration of prostaglandin (PG)F(2alpha) were used to induce late embryonic mortality (LEM) in heifers (n=8) on Days 30-38 of pregnancy in order to compare the profile for bovine pregnancy associated glycoprotein 1 (PAG1), progesterone and 15-keto-13,14-dihydro-PGF(2alpha) (PGFM). Two pregnant heifers...
The temporal relationship between changes in cervical dilatation, uterine electromyographic (EMG) activity, and maternal plasma concentrations of estradiol 17beta (E(2)), progesterone (P(4)), and 13,14-dihydro-15-keto-prostaglandin-F(2alpha) (PGFM), was investigated in six parturient cows. Calving was induced with a single injection of a synthetic...
The author placed 2-4 pairs of silver electrodes on pregnant uterus during laparotomy and a catheter into the aorta. The frequency and length of uterine contractions and change of pressure in uterus were measured by means of electrodes. From blood taken from the aorta steroid and PGFM concentration were measured. He found that uterus is not complet...
In the cow the foetal endocrine signals that initiate the calving process result in prepartum luteolysis. Withdrawal of progesterone (P4) action is a prerequisite for a normal calving. The rather abrupt declining influence of P4 is followed by a cascade of physiological processes in the myometrium and cervix. This contribution will focus on some of...
One of the major contributors to poor fertility of a dairy herd is ineffective detection of estrus. Recently, it has become evident that cow factors contribute largely to low detection rates. Until now, standing behavior has been the symptom used to determine the right moment for insemination. However, standing behavior is not observed in over 50%...
The objective of this study was to investigate the temporal changes in dilatation of the caudal cervix during induced calvings (n = 5). We used ultrasound cervimetry, allowing the continuous recording of the distance between a transmitting and receiving ultrasound crystal, which were implanted opposite to each other on the caudal rim of the cervix....
A new, nonsurgical, open-end catheter technique was used to study spontaneous uterine activity around estrus in sows, and the effects of estrogens, seminal plasma, cloprostenol, and clenbuterol on uterine activity. In the first experiment, uterine activity was studied in 14 multiparous, cyclic sows, during one or more estrous cycles, from day -4 to...
We previously demonstrated that the development of cultured rat pre-antral follicles is stimulated by growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and that the mRNA of IGF-I and type I IGF receptor (IGFR) is present in the oocyte and wall of these follicles. To gain a closer insight into the regulation of early folliculogenesis by G...
An immunohistochemical study of the expression of oestrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) in different regions along the longitudinal and vertical axes of the cervix of non-pregnant cows was performed. Animals were separated into two groups depending on the presence or absence of a functional corpus luteum in their ovaries, as indicated by b...
The aim of this study was to test the functional status of uterine oxytocin receptors in cows in vivo around parturition. The animals received consecutive, intra-arterial injections of 800, 1,600 and 3,200 mU of oxytocin at three different stages: during late gestation (days 260-274), at 12 h and at 24 h after intramuscular injection of a prostagla...
The mRNA expression patterns of activin beta(A) and follistatin in the uterus and embryo, the mRNA expression of the activin receptor II in the embryo, and the localization in the uterus of the immunoreactive activin beta(A) and the receptor II proteins in the uterus were examined at gestation days 7-12 after ovulation in pig. Activin was located p...
To test the hypothesis that an increasing opioid tonus is involved in decreases in fetal heart rate (FHR) and movement (FM) during late gestation, we studied the effects of intravenous bolus injections of morphine (1 mg) and naloxone (1 mg) on FHR and FM in the fetal pig. Twenty-one fetuses (1 per sow) were catheterized at 90-104 days of gestation...
The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) on the development of cultured rat pre-antral follicles. Pre-antral follicles with a diameter between 140 and 160 microm are mechanically isolated from ovaries of 10-day-old rats and cultured in groups for 6 days in FSH and insulin-containing serum-free...
At term pregnancy in cattle and pigs progesterone is from luteal origin. Like in other domestic animal species, parturition in the cow and pig is preceeded by a sudden drop in the maternal plasma progesterone concentration. An increased output of prostaglandin from the pregnant uterus is most likely responsible for prepartum luteolysis. The withdra...
The studies were undertaken on examining the influence of different linoleic/linolenic acid ratios in the diet of pregnant cows on some parameters which are involved in metabolism of prostaglandins in their placentas. Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) which provides arachidonic acid (AA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) the two be...
To determine the effect of dose and day of oxytocin treatment on intrauterine pressure, 6 normal mares were treated with 10 or 25 IU oxytocin 2 days before ovulation, on the day of ovulation and 2 days after ovulation. Intrauterine pressure (IUP) was measured using micro-tip-catheters (one placed intrauterine, a second and third serving as referenc...
The aim of the present study was to investigate whether growth hormone (GH) has any effect on the development of cultured rat pre-antral follicles. Pre-antral follicles with a diameter between 120 microm and 160 microm were mechanically isolated from 10-day-old rat ovaries and cultured in groups for 6 days in serum-free medium without GH or with GH...
The present study was designed to determine whether rat pre-antral follicles can grow under in-vitro conditions. Emphasis is on whether follicular interaction is involved in in-vitro follicle culture, and furthermore its role in follicular development has been assessed. Pre-antral follicles were isolated mechanically from 10-day old rat ovaries. Th...
We investigated the half-life of oxytocin in reproductively normal mares and the prostaglandin response after oxytocin administrations. Mares were given oxytocin, 10 or 25 iu, i.v., on the day of, or 2 days after, ovulation, and frequent jugular blood samples were collected for analysis of oxytocin and Prostaglandin F metabolite (PGFM) by RIA. Neit...
We studied the feasibility and practical conditions of repeated, non-invasive ultrasound scanning for fetal movements during late gestation in the pig. It appeared that, after a short training period of the sow, good quality recordings of fetal movements can be obtained for 60 min when using a 3.5 MHz ultrasound transducer of 12 or 18 cm long. Four...
The usefulness of fecal estrone (E1) measurement as a tool for pregnancy diagnosis was investigated. Concentrations of E1 were measured in feces from pregnant and nonpregnant sows by a direct ELISA without extraction. Highly significant differences in E1 concentrations were found in feces from nonpregnant and pregnant sows (P = 0.016 to < 0.001). P...
At Days 26 to 58 after AI, 138 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were repeatedly examined by ultrasonography, using a 7.5 MHz linear-array rectal transducer. The total calving rate was 37.6% (52/138), and late embryonic mortality occurred 8.6% of the cows (12/138). On the days of ultrasound scanning, blood samples were drawn from the jugular vein for me...
An acute phase response was previously found in cows at parturition, which might be associated with uterine cytokine release. Five late pregnant cows were implanted with vascular catheters in both the maternal aorta and uterine vein. Blood samples were taken to study temporal relationships between changing plasma levels of proinflammatory cytokines...
Between days 27 and 59 after artificial insemination (AI), 189 ultrasonographic pregnancy diagnoses were made in 56 dairy cows using a 7.5 MHz linear-array rectal transducer. Blood samples were withdrawn from a jugular vein on the day of AI, on day 21, and after each ultrasonographic examination between days 27 and 31, days 34 and 38, days 41 and 4...
Forty-eight cows Holstein Friesian x Dutch Friesian (HF x DF) were randomly assigned to 2 groups fed 1 of 2 diets (isocaloric and isonitrogenous but different in linoleic/linolenic acid ratio) from 4 wk before expected parturition until 7 d after calving. Effects of the diet on plasma linoleic/linolenic acid ratio, plasma PGFM levels and placental...
Bij de geboorte of baring geeft de ontsloten baarmoeder haar levende inhoud aan de buitenwereld af. Indien dat niet op het juiste tijdstip gebeurt, d.w.z. niet na een volledige, diersoortspecifieke draagtijd, dan gebruiken we bij dieren het woord “ verwerpen ” , een uitdrukking die feitelijk een heel bijzondere gevoelswaarde heeft. We beginnen te s...