Effect of hematopoietic growth factors during in vitro maturation of bovine oocytes

PAMELA CONDE; SERGIO MORADO; JOHAN SMITZ; TERESA GENTILE; PABLO CETICA

San Juan

Jornada; II Reunión Conjunta de Sociedades de Biología de la República Argentina; 2011

Sociedades Argentinas de Biología

Hematopoietic factors, such as erythropoietin (Epo) and kit ligand (KITL), and their receptors have been described in the ovary. However, their role is not clear enough. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of Epo and KITL during in vitro maturation of bovine oocytes. Cumulus oocyte-complexes (COCs) were recovered by puncturing ovarian antral follicles and matured at 39°C, 5% CO2 in humidified air in medium 199 with gonadotropins supplemented with: 1) bovine serum albumin (BSA, negative control), 2) BSA + Epo (7, 14, 20 or 80 mU/ml), 3) BSA + KITL (5 or 50ng/ml), 4) fetal calf serum (FCS, positive control). After 22 hours of incubation, COCs were denuded to evaluate the presence of the 1st polar body, or co-incubated with a suspension of 1x106 motile spermatozoa/ml for 20 hours in IVF-mSOF. Presumptive zygotes were cultured for 24 hours in IVC-mSOF to analyze the percentage of cleaved embryos. No significant differences were observed in the percentages of nuclear maturation with the addition of Epo or KITL. The percentages of cleaved embryos were higher with the addition of Epo in the maturation medium at all concentrations with respect to negative control (p