163 Effects of Different in Vitro Maturation Systems on Embryo Development in Bovine Prepubertal and Adult Donors

Abstract

Prepubertal bovine females have been suggested as a source of oocytes in order to accelerate genetic gain and decrease the generation interval. However, prepubertal oocytes have a lower developmental competence than their adult counterparts. In vitro maturation (IVM) systems using cyclic AMP (cAMP) regulators and 30-h culture have been suggested to improve blastocyst in vitro production rates from bovine oocytes (Albuz et al., 2010). The present study evaluated the effects of an addition of the cAMP modulators forskolin, 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX), and cilostamide during extended IVM on blastocyst yields and gene expression in prepubertal and adult bovine females. Holstein-Friesian donors were submitted to ovum pick-up twice per week. Oocytes from groups of 12 animals, including lactating cows (>2 lactations) and prepubertal donors (6–10 months old) were used in the following treatment groups: TCM24 (24-h IVM, routine protocol/control), cAMP30 (2-h pre-IVM culture using forskolin-IBMX and 30-h IVM adding cilostamide), DMSO30 [2-h pre-IVM culture and 30-h IVM with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/vehicle control]. In vitro-matured oocytes were fertilized and presumptive zygotes were cultured in vitro to assess embryo development. In vivo blastocysts were produced from superovulated cows and used for gene expression analysis. Cleavage rates, blastocyst formation, and mRNA abundance of selected genes were evaluated. The Glimmix procedure from SAS/STAT (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA) was performed to compare blastocyst and cleavage rates. One-way ANOVA was implemented to evaluate gene expression. A total of 793 oocytes from the different sources were submitted to the IVM treatments. Cleavage rates (prepubertal donors: 64.6 ± 4%, 59.1 ± 6.4%, 53 ± 4.4%, cows: 55.1 ± 4.3%, 59 ± 6.5%, 50.8 ± 4.4%, for TCM24, cAMP30, and DMSO30, respectively; P > 0.05) and blastocyst/zygotes rates (prepubertal donors: 27 ± 6%; 21.8 ± 3.5%; 17.6 ± 2.4%; cows: 28 ± 3.3%; 27.7 ± 2.9%; 22.7 ± 3.2% for TCM24, cAMP30, and DMSO30, respectively; P > 0.05) did not differ among in vitro treatments. The mRNA relative abundance of the EGR1 gene was down-regulated 6-fold in all in vitro-produced blastocysts compared with their in vivo counterparts (P < 0.05). Gene expression profiles for SLC2A8, DNMT3B, BCL-XL, and PRDX1 were similar in in vitro and in vivo blastocysts. These results show similar embryo production patterns in prepubertal and adult donors. Furthermore, DMSO did not show effects on embryo developmental rates when used during IVM. The gene expression levels of EGR1 confirm our recent findings in blastocysts obtained from oocytes from slaughterhouse ovaries (data not presented), showing its usefulness as an embryo quality marker. These preliminary results indicate that oocyte developmental capacity in prepubertal donors can be similar to that of the adult donors without addition of cAMP modulators.