The oviduct: A key organ for the success of early reproductive events

Abstract

• Assisted reproduction techniques are in vitro techniques that are widely used in many species, where they have both health and economic importance. • During recent decades, there have been great improvements in such techniques, including gamete manipulation, cryopreservation, in vitro fertilization, and embryo in vitro production; however, the efficacy of these techniques is far from optimal compared with the situation in vivo. • Since final maturation of gametes, fertilization, and early embryo cleavage in vivo occurs in the oviduct, it is proposed that a wider knowledge of the oviductal environment would help to increase the efficiency of assisted reproduction techniques by translating natural conditions into the laboratory.