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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Effect of the Bovine Oviductal Fluid onIn VitroFertilization, Development and Gene Expression ofIn Vitro-Produced Bovine Blastocysts

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description

Oviductal microenvironment generally provides better condi-tions for early embryo development than the conventionalin vitro system. In an attempt to simulate the oviductconditions or the main potentially influencing factors, theeffect was studied of a bovine oviductal fluid (bOF) treatmentapplied prior to IVF on (i) IVF parameters, (ii) cleavage rate,(iii) blastocyst yield and (iv) blastocyst quality. Embryo qualitywas assessed by morphological embryo quality and relativetranscript abundance of several developmental genes in bovineblastocysts. Furthermore, to study the effect of bOF withoutthe male effect and zona–sperm interaction, artificially acti-vated metaphase II oocytes were also treated with bOF.In vitro-matured bovine oocytes from abattoir ovaries weretreated or untreated with bOF for 30 min and then washedprior to IVF or activation. Subsequently, in vitro-fertilized andparthenogenetic embryos were in vitro cultured for 7 to 8 days.The bOF treatment had no effect on fertilization parameters,cleavage, blastocyst rates both on parthenogenetic and IVFbovine embryos and neither on morphological quality of IVFblastocysts. G6PD and SOD2 genes from IVF blastocystsshowed significant changes in their expression after a bOFtreatment. Significant differences were found for the expressionof SCL2A1, GPX1, BAX, AKR1B1 and PLAC8 genes betweenexcellent or good blastocysts (Grade 1) and fair blastocysts(Grade 2). To our knowledge, this is the first study thatevaluates the effect of bOF oocyte treatment on fertilizationparameters, development and quality of bovine embryos.