{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]],"date-time":"2026-04-16T07:39:22Z","timestamp":1776325162483,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,31]],"date-time":"2022-05-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1653955200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Open Access Fund of the Leibniz Association","award":["491292795"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["491292795"]}]},{"name":"the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)","award":["491292795"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["491292795"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In the last 30\u201340 years, in vitro maturation (IVM) and fertilization (IVF) of domestic cat oocytes have been established as part of the panel of assisted reproduction technologies. As a representative of wild felids, the African lion is not yet considered endangered. Nevertheless, the zoo population management of the African lion itself as well as other closely related felids would benefit from the establishment of an IVF system. Here, we aimed to investigate the transferability of domestic cat IVF technology to the African lion. From the ovaries of 42 lionesses aged between 0.75 and 15 years, a total of 933 IVF-suitable oocytes were retrieved and subjected to IVM and IVF. The overall maturation rate was 40.6% and 18.9% of these oocytes cleaved after fertilization, respectively. Embryos were generated by intracytoplasmic sperm cell injection as well as co-culture with epididymal sperm. Improvements in the model system also led to an improved outcome with in vitro produced embryos in the lion. Compared to domestic cats, the transportation of gonads to a specialized laboratory was time-consuming and influenced oocyte quality negatively. In conclusion, the domestic cat IVF system is adoptable for the African lion, although success rates are still lower.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani12111424","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,31]],"date-time":"2022-05-31T09:24:29Z","timestamp":1653989069000},"page":"1424","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Current State of In Vitro Embryo Production in African Lion (Panthera leo)"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Jennifer","family":"Zahmel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Reproduction Biology, Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kim","family":"Skalborg Simonsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Givskud Zoo\u2014Zootopia, L\u00f8veparkvej 3, 7323 Give, Denmark"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-2369-0044","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julia","family":"Stagegaard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ree Park\u2014Safari, Stubbe S\u00f8vej 15, 8400 Ebeltoft, Denmark"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sergio Eliseo","family":"Palma-Vera","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Reproduction Biology, Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6173-840X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Katarina","family":"Jewgenow","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Reproduction Biology, Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"858","DOI":"10.1095\/biolreprod.106.058065","article-title":"Toward a Feline-Optimized Culture Medium: Impact of Ions, Carbohydrates, Essential Amino Acids, Vitamins, and Serum on Development and Metabolism of In Vitro Fertilization-Derived Feline Embryos Relative to Embryos Grown In Vivo 1","volume":"76","author":"Herrick","year":"2007","journal-title":"Biol. 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