Assisted reproduction techniques in the horse

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Reproduction
• Animal Biotechnology
• Equine Science

Background:

• Equine assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are crucial for horse breeding.
• Current limitations exist, particularly in superovulating mares and standard in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and summarize current equine assisted reproduction techniques.
• To highlight recent advancements and their clinical applicability.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on equine ART.
• Discussion of techniques including oocyte maturation (in vitro and in vivo), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), embryo culture, nuclear transfer, blastocyst biopsy, and cryopreservation (vitrification).

Main Results:

• Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and in vitro maturation enable embryo and foal production.
• Blastocyst development rates comparable to bovine IVF (25%-35%) are achievable with ICSI and in vitro culture.
• Nuclear transfer offers efficiency (up to 26% live foal rate), though less explored.
• Equine blastocyst biopsy for genetic analysis and vitrification for cryopreservation demonstrate successful pregnancy outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Recent advancements in equine ART, including ICSI, in vitro maturation, and embryo cryopreservation, are increasingly utilized in clinical practice.
• These techniques offer improved success rates and expanded options for equine reproduction.