First litter of in vitro puppies born in US

Two of the dogs were produced from a beagle’s eggs and a cocker spaniel’s sperm while the other five were from two pairings of beagle mothers and fathers.

There were four failed attempts before success, when embryos were transferred but did not result in IVF pregnancies or births, the research in the Public Library of Science ONE revealed. The scientists can also freeze oocytes and conserve the genetics of endangered species.

It could also enable researchers to eradicate heritable diseases in dogs and facilitate the study of genetic diseases in dogs and humans, they say.

The first human baby conceived through IVF was Louise Brown, who was born in 1978.

In vitro fertilization involves fertilizing an egg with a sperm in a lab, and then transferring the embryo into a female host. The sperm were first incubated in magnesium and other chemicals that are found inside the female’s oviducts, to simulate what the environment is normally like for fertilization to take place. When the female dogs’ eggs were extracted at the same stage of their menstrual cycle as is done for humans, the eggs weren’t yet ready to be fertilized. According to Dr. Pierre Comizzoli, a reproductive physiologist for the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, said, “The biology of the dog is really, really different than humans”. IVF procedures could help researchers explore gene editing in dogs, particularly in how inherited traits lead to diseases, like diabetes and cancer. Researchers at Cornell University and the Smithsonian Institute worked together on solving what the university called a “decades-long puzzle” on why in vitro fertilization techniques weren’t successful with dogs.

Cornell spokeswoman Melissa Mae Osgood told The Huffington Post all the puppies have been adopted.

There are five species of endangered or critically endangered Canids, including the red wolf in the United States, the African wild dog, and the Ethiopian wolf. For example, Golden retrievers are at high risk for lymphoma and Dalmatians have a gene that puts them at risk for blockages from urinary stones, the researchers explained.

IVF technology may one day help weed out genetic disease in dogs.

The puppies’ birth was a reward for years of research into making IVF work for dogs.

“This will have a lot of applications in veterinary medicine, for animals that are valuable working dogs or show dogs or just animals that people love and want to breed”, says Mr Travis.