Heat stress affects the expression of key genes in the placenta, placental characteristics, and efficiency of Saanen goats and the survival and growth of their kids.

Heat stress is detrimental during gestation; however, the effects of heat stress on goat placental characteristics and kid survival remain unclear. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of heat stress at final gestation on cortisol concentration, placenta characteristics, and the expression of genes related to placenta. Forty-six primiparous and multiparous Saanen goats were subjected to control (CT; under a thermoneutral environment: air temperature between 12°C and 25°C and the relative humidity from 45 to 73%, n = 23) or heat stress (HS; under a climatic chamber: air temperature at 37°C and the relative humidity at 60 to 70% from 0800 to 1600 h, n = 23) from the last 60 d of pregnancy until the first colostrum suckling. The heat challenge imposed on HS goats during the prepartum period increased their rectal temperature, respiratory frequency, and cortisol levels in plasma and amniotic fluid versus CT goats. In the placenta, HS treatment also increased the expression of the HSPA1A gene. Heat-stressed goats also showed significantly lower expression of HSD11B2 and greater expression of MC2R and NR3C1 than CT goats, suggesting that heat stress decreased the effectiveness by which the HSD11B2 enzyme converts cortisol to cortisone and increased placental responsiveness to cortisol. The HS goats took longer to release the placenta with lighter placental cotyledons, and HS goats had a lower ratio between the kid's weight at birth and placenta weight than CT goats. There was no treatment effect on the kids' survival or weights at birth, but the kids from goats subjected to HS presented lesser cortisol concentration and greater mortality rates at weaning than kids from CT goats. Finally, the overexpression of HSPA1A by HS goats suggests a protective response of placenta. However, the heat stress negatively affected the placenta's expulsion length, placental cotyledons number, weight and area, the ratio between kid's weight and placenta weight, and cortisol signaling. Indeed, the upregulation of MC2R and NR3C1 and downregulation of HSD11B2 on placenta caused by heat stress were associated with greater cortisol concentrations in the amniotic fluid of HS goats. Although HS and CT kids had adequate weights and survival rate during the first weeks of life, the heat stress increased the mortality at weaning of HS kids versus CT kids, suggesting that the heat stress effect persists and can change the ability of kids to respond to weaning challenge.

Improved vitrification method allowing direct transfer of goat embryos.

The aim of this study was to design a vitrification method suited to field embryo transfer experiments in goat. In a first experiment, a standard vitrification protocol, previously designed for sheep embryos was compared to slow freezing of goat embryos. No significant difference was observed on kidding rate (48% versus 69%, respectively), nor on embryo survival rate (35% versus 45%). Second experiment: all embryos were vitrified. After warming, embryos were either transferred directly (direct transfer), or after in vitro dilution of the cryoprotectants (conventional transfer). The kidding rate was not affected by the transfer method (38% versus 23%, respectively). However, embryo survival rate tended to be higher after direct transfer (26% versus 14%). Third experiment: OPS vitrification was compared to standard vitrification. The kidding rate was not affected (22% versus 39%, respectively), but the embryo survival rate was lower after OPS (14% versus 28%). Fourth experiment: 0.4M sucrose was added with cryoprotectants in vitrification. The kidding rate after direct transfer was significantly enhanced after addition of sucrose (56% versus 27%, respectively), whereas embryo survival rate was not significantly affected (32% versus 18%). Fifth experiment: vitrification with sucrose supplementation was compared to slow freezing. No significant difference was observed after direct transfer on kidding rate (52% versus 31%, respectively), but embryo survival rate tended to be higher after vitrification (34% versus 21%). In conclusion, our results indicate that addition of 0.4M sucrose in association with direct transfer improves significantly the viability of goat vitrified embryos.