Supplementation of porcine in vitro maturation medium with FGF2, LIF, and IGF1 enhances cytoplasmic maturation in prepubertal gilts oocytes and improves embryo quality

Abstract

Summary In porcine in vitro production (IVP) systems, the use of oocytes derived from prepubertal gilts, whilst being commercially attractive, remains challenging due to their poor developmental competence following in vitro maturation (IVM). Follicular fluid contains important growth factors and plays a key role during oocyte maturation; therefore, it is a common supplementation for porcine IVM medium. However, follicular fluid contains many poorly characterized components, is batch variable, and its use raises biosecurity concerns. In an effort to design a defined IVM system, growth factors such as cytokines have been previously tested. These include leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF), fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), the combination of which is termed ‘FLI’. Here, using abattoir-derived oocytes in a well established porcine IVP system, we compared follicular fluid and FLI supplementation during both IVM and embryo culture to test the hypothesis that FLI can substitute for follicular fluid without compromising oocyte nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation. We demonstrate that in oocytes derived from prepubertal gilts, FLI supplementation enhances oocyte meiotic maturation and has a positive effect on the quality and developmental competence of embryos. Moreover, for the first time, we studied the effects of follicular fluid and FLI combined showing no synergistic effects.

Impact of media supplements FGF2, LIF and IGF1 on the genome activity of porcine embryos produced in vitro

“…, Currin et al . 6 , 19 , 22 . The quality of blastocyst-stage embryos was also enhanced and the efficiency of cattle and sheep in vitro production (IVP) as well as embryo quality were improved through FLI supplementation 23 , 24 .…”

Combination of CNP, MT and FLI during IVM Significantly Improved the Quality and Development Abilities of Bovine Oocytes and IVF-Derived Embryos

“…The leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) promoted oocyte nuclear maturation and blastocyst development in porcine [ 17 ] and bovine [ 18 ] oocytes. Importantly, the supplementation of IGF1, FGF2, and LIF (FLI medium) improved porcine [ 19 , 20 , 21 ] and sheep [ 22 ] embryonic development in vitro. However, the mechanism through which the combination of CNP, MT, and FLI enhances the maturation and developmental capacity of oocytes in vitro has not been fully elucidated.…”