Glycosaminoglycans isolated from female genital secretions increase the efficiency of in vitro fertilization in pigs

AGUILERA AC; VIERA, LA; VOLPI, N; MATAS, C

buenos aires

Simposio; 3rd Argentinian Symposium on Glycobiology 2019; 2019

Universidad Nacional de San Martin

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are linear polysaccharides that are found in the oviductal fluid (OF), follicular fluid (FF) and in the cumulus oophorus secretion (COS) of several mammalian species. Since the GAG hyaluronic acid appears to mediate the fertilization process, in this study we proposed to isolate the GAGs from pig FF (G-FF), OF (G-OF) and COS (G-COS) and evaluate their effect on the in vitro fertilization (IVF). GAGs were isolated by protease digestion, followed by lipid extraction and by sequenced steps of precipitations. The GAG composition was determined as previously described by Volpi N et.al. (J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 22:1-61. 2018). The IVF was performed in TALP medium containing either 120 g/ml of G-COS, 120 g/ml of G-FOP, 120 g/ml of G-FF, 100 or 500 g/ml of HA. Each group was co-cultured with 5×105 spermatozoa/ml and the fertilization parameters were determined. It was observed that G-FF showed lesser values for zona pelucida binding, while it showed the highest sperm penetration rate (%) and sperm efficiency to form pronucleous (P < 0.05, ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc). However, no effect was observed after the incubation with HA or G-COS. This preliminary study suggests that isolated GAGs from FF can improve IVF outcomes. Further studies should be carried out on the embryo development and quality.