How does in vitro fertilisation work?
We explain the Asturbiotech in vitro fertilisation process in four basic steps.
1. Oocyte aspiration
Oocyte aspiration is the process in which oocytes are extracted from the ovaries of a donor cow. It can be performed in the laboratory from slaughterhouses’ ovaries or in live females using the OPU (Ovum Pick-Up) technique which consists of transvaginal follicular aspiration guided by ultrasonography.
3. Culture of embryos in the laboratory
The embryos are cultured in an incubator for 7 days in the laboratory. After this culture, only high quality embryos will be selected for fresh transfer into recipient animals or frozen.
2. Fertilisation of the oocytes in the laboratory
The collected oocytes are placed in a maturation medium for one day before being fertilised with bull semen.
4. Cryogenic embryo transfer and preservation
After embryo culture, embryos can be fresh transferred to recipient animals (on day 7 post-estrus) or frozen in nitrogen tanks using a direct lay system allowing easy transfer to recipient cows and at the most appropriate time.
Therapeutic embryos
The decline in fertility of dairy cattle and the emergence of the repeat cow phenomenon is a growing problem causing a serious reduction in their productivity.
- Heat stress
- Steady increase in production efficiency of high milk yielding cows
- Fertility problems in late lactation
- Insulin resistance
- Metabolic stress
- Poor oocyte quality
- Increased embryo losses
- Reduced conception rates
All this results in reduced production and loss of profitability on farms.
Learn about our embryo types
Asturbiotech helps you to improve production and reduce profitability loss
Embryo transfer on day 7 post-estrus is a new therapeutic alternative for the treatment of repeat cows.
The objective is to facilitate the recovery of the production cycles of those animals with reproductive problems by bypassing the factors causing oocyte damages and the stages of embryo vulnerability
Increased productivity and profits
Increase the fertility of your cows, your productivity and your profits. What are the advantages of in vitro fertilisation with Asturbiotech?
Simple direct lay technique
Low cost embryos
Economically viable
Different breeds available
Ovum Pick-Up (OPU)
We offer a service for the reception of oocytes from Ovum Pick-Up (OPU) for subsequent fertilisation in the laboratory.
The OPU has a number of advantages over other methodologies as it can be performed in animals:
Prepubertal (6-8 months of age)
Cows that do not respond to hormonal stimuli
Donors with reproductive abnormalities
Old animals with reproductive disorders of non-genetic origin
Animals in the first third of gestation
Increase the progeny of your high genetic value cows
The embryos obtained can be fresh transferred to recipient animals or can be frozen in liquid nitrogen for later laying.
It allows you to obtain offspring from cows of high genetic value and produce a greater number of embryos (up to 100 embryos/year/cow)
Genetic rescue:
Recover the genetics of your emergency slaughtered cows
We offer a genetic rescue service, by obtaining oocytes from emergency slaughtered females for subsequent fertilisation in the laboratory and obtaining embryos in vitro.
The embryos obtained can be fresh transferred to recipient animals or they can be frozen in liquid nitrogen for their subsequent laying.
Reduce costs
Asturbiotech genetic rescue allows you to recover the genetics of your farm at a significantly lower cost than acquiring new genetics.