GLYCOSAMINOGLYCANS ISOLATED FROM FEMALE GENITAL SECRETIONS INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF IN VITRO FERTILIZATION IN PIGS

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

Congreso; IV JOINT MEETING OF THE BIOLOGY SOCIETIES OF ARGENTINA; 2020

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are linear polysaccharides that contained repeating hexosamine disaccharides and are found in the oviductal fluid (OF),follicular fluid (FF) and in the cumulus oophorus secretion (COS) of several mammalian species. Based on their structure, two major classes ofGAGs have been described: the sulfated GAGs, including heparan sulfate (HS), chondroitin sulfate (CS), keratan sulfate (KS) and the non-sulfatedGAG like the hyaluronic acid (HA). Since the GAG hyaluronic acid appears to mediate the fertilization process, in this study we proposed to isolatethe 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 byprotease digestion, followed by lipid extraction and by sequenced steps of precipitations. The GAG composition was determined as previouslydescribed by Volpi et al. (2018)*. The IVF was performed in TALP medium containing either 120 μg/mL of G-COS, 120 μg/mL of G-FOP, 120μg/mL of G-FF, 100 or 500 μg/mL of HA. Each group was co-cultured with 5×105spermatozoa/mL and the fertilization parameters weredetermined. It was observed that G-FF showed lesser values for zona pelucida binding, while it showed the highest sperm penetration rate (%) andsperm efficiency to form pronucleous (P < 0.05, ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc). However, no effect was observed after the incubation withHA or G-COS. This preliminary study suggests that isolated GAGs from FF can improve IVF outcomes. Further studies should be carried out on theembryo development and quality. *J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med 22: 1-61. 2018