The effect of l-carnitine on the level of recovery of morphologically healthy oocyte, early apoptosis, and viability of mature porcine vitrified-warmed oocytes.

CRUZANS, PR.; TELLO, MF.; LORENZO, MS.; TEPLITZ, G.; MARURI, A.; LOMBARDO, DM.

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Otro; Reunión Conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias; 2017

Sociedad Argentina de Biología

L-carnitine (LC) plays an essential role in the catabolism of lipids and protects cells from the damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the addition of LC during in vitro maturation (IVM) on the level of recovery of morphologically healthy oocyte, early apoptosis, and viability of mature porcine vitrified-warmed oocytes. The cumulus-oocyte complexes (COC) were obtained by follicular aspiration from slaughterhouse ovaries and matured in vitro without LC (control) or with 0.6 mg/mL of LC (Sigma-Aldrich) in the maturation medium (TCM-199 supplemented) for 44 h at 39°C and 5% CO2. Then, the oocytes were denuded and vitrified using a support similar to a Criotop. One week later, they were warmed and the level of recovery of morphologically healthy oocyte, early apoptosis (Annexin V), and viability (propidium iodide) were assessed. Data were analyzed by Statistix software (Fisher´s test). It was considered as significant a p ≤ 0.05. There were significant differences in the level of recovery of morphologically healthy oocyte between the control (70.92 %, n = 141) and LC treatment (82.19 %, n = 146) (p = 0.03). No significant differences were detected in the level of early apoptosis (1.19 % vs. 5.61 %) and the viability (26.19 % vs. 17.76 %) between the control (n = 84) and LC treatment (n = 107), respectively. In conclusion, the LC treatment improved the recovery of morphologically healthy oocyte in compare with to the control. However, the level of early apoptosis and viability of porcine oocyte matured with LC in the IVM medium and then vitrified-warmed did not differ with the control.