Effect of alpha-lipoic acid during preimplantation development of cattle embryos when there were different in vitro culture conditions

FABRA, MARIANA C.; IZQUIERDO, ISABEL; ANCHORDOQUY, JUAN M.; ANCHORDOQUY, JUAN P.; CARRANZA-MARTÍN, ANA C.; NIKOLOFF, NOELIA; FURNUS, CECILIA C.

ANIMAL REPRODUCTION SCIENCE

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2020 vol. 221

0378-4320

In many species, alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is essential for embryo development. There, therefore,was investigation of effects of ALA supplementation to culture media for in vitro development ofcattle embryos. In Experiment I, there were assessments of embryo production and oxidativestatus of cattle embryos derived by in vitro maturation and fertilization (IVM/IVF)that werecultured until the blastocyst stage of development using different ALA concentrations (5, 25 and100 μM), fetal bovine serum (FBS) and amino acids (aa) as well as 20 % oxygen (O2) in theculture atmosphere. In Experiment II, embryos were cultured without FBS, at different ALAconcentrations (2.5, 5 and 7.5 μM) and in the presence or absence of aa when there was a 7 % O2atmosphere. Embryo development rates and blastocyst quality were evaluated. With 20 % O2concentration, treatment with 100 μM ALA resulted in lesser hatching rates and development tothe blastocyst stage (P < 0.01), while with supplementation with 5 μM ALA there were lesser (P= 0.04) glutathione concentrations and greater protein contents of embryos (P < 0.01).Culturing in the 7 % O2 atmosphere, combined with supplementation with 2.5 μM ALA with FBSand aa resulted in a greater blastocyst cell number (P=0.03) and lesser hatching rates(P=0.04). Taken together, results indicate supplementation with the greater ALA concentrationsresulted in impairment of embryo development, regardless of the O2 concentration imposedduring the culture period, while the relatively lesser supplementation-concentrations with ALAled to improvements in embryo quality.