Folate supplementation during oocyte maturation positively impacts the folate-methionine metabolism in pre-implantation embryos

Abstract

Folic acid is vital for DNA synthesis and methylations through one-carbon (C1) metabolism. Thus, it is essential for cell division during embryonic development. The present study investigated the effect of folic acid supplementation on oocyte maturation, blastocyst development and the expression of folate transporters as well as folate metabolism enzymes in oocytes and pre-implantation embryos of goat.Immature goat oocytes, matured in maturation medium comprising different folic acid concentrations (0, 10, 50, 100 and 150 µM), were in vitro fertilized and cultured. Cumulus expansion markers (Ptx3 and Ptgs2) in cumulus cells were highly upregulated after 50 µM folic acid supplementation indicating higher degree of maturation. Supplementation of 50 µM folic acid during oocyte maturation resulted in signi cantly higher blastocyst production rate, reduction in intracellular ROS levels as well as upregulation of the transcripts for folate transporters and key folate-methionine cycle enzymes in comparison to control. The present study demonstrates the existence of active folate-methionine cycle in oocytes and pre-implantation goat embryos. Supplementation of 50 µM folic acid in maturation medium increases the blastocyst production rate, improves oocyte maturation, reduces ROS production as well as upregulate the expression of Folr1 and folate metabolism enzyme, Mtr.

The effect of antioxidants on increased oocyte competence in IVM: a review

“…Folate can help with oocyte maturation and embryonic development is dependent on endogenous folate accumulated during oocyte maturation [76] . During oocyte maturation, 50 μmol/L folic acid added in IVM media dramatically reduced intracellular ROS levels and upregulated transcripts for folate transporters and essential folate-methionine cycle enzymes, such as folate receptor 1 (FOLR1) and folate metabolism enzyme, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase (MTR) [77] . In addition, depending on the oocyte quality and concentration used, the addition of folate during IVM of oocytes alters bovine embryo development as well as IGF2 and KCNQ1OT1 expression [76] .…”

Changes in Nucleus and Cytoplast During Oocyte Maturation: Involvement in Embryo Production

“…(Mohammed and Farghaly, 2018;Mohammed et al, 2008;Mohammed et al, 2010;Mohammed et al, 2019). The cytoplasmic and nuclear changes that occur during maturation of oocyte are important for successful fertilization and embryo development (Mohammed, 2014a;Mohammed et al, 2014b;Mohammed and Farghaly, 2018;Mohammed et al, 2019a;Saini et al, 2022). Changes of maturation promoting and cytostatic factors in addition to two asymmetrical meiotic divisions resulting in a single oocyte and polar bodies for oocyte maturation.…”

“…Follicle size (Gordon, 2003;Patton et al, 2021), nutrition and feed additives (Cavalieri et al, 2018;Mohammed, 2018;Mohammed, 2019;Mohammed and Al-Hozab, 2020;Pournaghi et al, 2021;Gutiérrez-Añez et al, 2021;Saini et al, 2022), the media for maturation and their enrichments (follicular fluid, bovine serum albumin, amino acids and hormones : Mohammed, 2006;Mohammed et al, 2005;de Senna Costa et al, 2022), incubator conditions (humidity, CO2 and oxygen concentrations) were found to affect oocyte maturation (Kang et al, 2021;Yousefian et al, 2021).…”

“…Enrichment of maturation media with cumulus cells (Al Zeidi et al, 2022), growth factors and hormones (Bunel et al, 2020;Ko et al, 2021;Kumar et al, 2020;Wolff et al, 2022), and other factors (Martínez-Quezada et al, 2021;Zabihi et al, 2021;Saini et al, 2022;Chelenga et al, 2022) improves oocyte maturation and embryo development thereafter (Gordon 2003;Baruffi et al, 2004;Somfai et al, 2012). In addition, super-stimulation of ovarian follicles via gonadotropin injections resulted in changes in small, medium, and large follicles according to the number and dose of gonadotropin injections and side of the ovary (Abdelnaby et al, 2021).…”

Dietary methionine supplementation during the estrous cycle improves follicular development and estrogen synthesis in rats

“…[10][11][12][13][14] Only a few studies have shown that the addition of methionine to cumulus-oocyte complexes can enhance oocyte protein synthesis and show higher developmental capacity. 15,16 Little is known about the function of methionine in hormone synthesis in granulosa cells. Therefore, the regulation and molecular mechanisms of methionine in follicular development and hormone synthesis during estrus still need to be studied.…”