scholarly journals In vitro aging of porcine oocytes

2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Petrová ◽  
M. Sedmíková ◽  
E. Chmelíková ◽  
D. Švestková ◽  
R. Rajmon

Porcine oocytes matured in vitro develop in various ways if they are further cultivated. In our studies these oocytes were cultivated for 1 to 5 days (in vitro aging). During the 1st day of aging, most of them remained at the stage of metaphase II (98%). Then many oocytes underwent the spontaneous parthenogenetic activation. The portion of activated oocytes reached its peak after 2 or 3 days of aging in vitro (39 or 45%). The portion of fragmented oocytes peaked at the same time (28%). During subsequent aging in vitro (i.e. day 4 or 5 of aging), the portion of lysed oocytes significantly increased (30 or 37%). The highest portion of spontaneously activated parthenogenetic embryos at a pronuclear stage (35%) was observed during the 2nd day of aging in vitro. These pronuclear embryos had mainly one polar body with two pronuclei (47% of all pronuclear embryos) or two polar bodies with one pronucleus (38% of all pronuclear embryos). During the 3rd and 5th day of in vitro aging, there was a significant increase in the portion of parthenogenetic embryos cleaved to the 2-cell or 3-cell stage. When considering the prolonged in vitro culture of porcine oocyte, only the first day of aging should be taken into account, since beyond this time significant changes, i.e. parthenogenesis, fragmentation or lysis, occurred in oocytes under in vitro conditions.  

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
T. H. C. De Bem ◽  
R. Rochetti ◽  
P. R. L. Pires ◽  
F. F. Bressan ◽  
P. R. Adona ◽  
...  

Prematuration provides an additional time for oocyte capacitation and maturation in an attempt to improve in vitro embryo production (IVP) rates and allows media supplementation during this period for IVP. The aim of this study was to use brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) in prematuration to improve maturation of bovine oocytes subjected to parthenogenetic activation and cultured with different media. Oocytes were subjected to prematuration in TCM-199 medium supplemented with 10 µm butyrolactone I, 2.0 mm pyruvate, and 10 µg mL–1 gentamicin for 24 h in the absence of BDNF (control) or in the presence of 10 ng mL–1 BDNF (BD). Oocytes were then in vitro-matured (IVM) in TCM-199 medium supplemented with 10% FCS, 0.5 µg mL–1 FSH, 5.0 µg mL–1 LH, 2.0 mm pyruvate, and 10 µg mL–1 gentamicin at 38.5�C under 5% CO2 in air. After 19 h oocytes were denuded using hyaluronidase and vortexing for 3 min for the 1st polar body (1PB) selection. Those which extruded the 1PB were maintained in IVM until 26 h, when parthenogenetic activation was performed (5 min in 5 µm ionomycin, followed by 3 h in 2 mm 6-DMAP). Activated oocytes were then transferred to in vitro culture (IVC) for embryo development evaluation. Embryos from both groups were cultured in SOF medium with 2.5% FCS, 0.05 g mL–1 BSA, 0.2 mm pyruvate, and 10 mg mL–1 gentamicin. Cleavage rates on the second day of in vitro culture (D2), embryo production at Days 7 and 8 (D7 and D8), and hatching rate at Day 8 were evaluated. Data regarding 1PB extrusion, cleavage, blastocyst development on D7 and D8, and blastocyst D8 hatching rates of three replicates were analyzed by chi-square test at 5% significance using the BIOESTATS 4.0 software. Control and BD, respectively, did not show differences (P > 0.05) regarding 1PB extrusion (n = 164, 63.81%, and n = 175, 66.79%) or cleavage (n = 117, 71.34%, and n = 138, 78.86%). However, for control and BD, respectively, blastocyst development on D7 (n = 63, 38.41%, and n = 89, 50.86%), D8 (n = 63, 38.41%, and n = 91, 52.00%), and hatching on D8 (n = 22, 34.92%, and n = 39, 43.82%) were all significantly higher for BD when compared with control (P < 0.05). In conclusion, BDNF during prematuration improved in vitro embryo development by increasing blastocyst and hatching rates of parthenogenetic embryos.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Carvalhal ◽  
Michelle Stevense ◽  
Katrin Koehler ◽  
Ronald Naumann ◽  
Angela Huebner ◽  
...  

Asymmetric cell divisions depend upon the precise placement of the mitotic spindle. In mammalian oocytes, spindles assemble close to the cell center but chromosome segregation takes place at the cell periphery where half of the chromosomes are expelled into small, non-developing polar bodies at anaphases. By dividing so asymmetrically, most of the cytoplasmic content within the oocyte is preserved, which is critical for successful fertilization and early development. Recently, we determined that the nucleoporin ALADIN participates in spindle assembly in somatic cells, and we have also shown that female mice homozygous deficient for ALADIN are sterile. In this study we show that this protein is involved in specific meiotic stages including meiotic resumption, spindle assembly, and spindle positioning. In the absence of ALADIN, polar body extrusion is impaired in a majority of oocytes due to problems in spindle orientation prior to the first meiotic anaphase. Those few oocytes that can mature far enough to be fertilized in vitro are unable to support embryonic development beyond the two-cell stage. Overall, we find that ALADIN is critical for oocyte maturation and appears to be far more essential for this process than for somatic cell divisions.


Author(s):  
Hieu Nguyen ◽  
Hongwen Wu ◽  
Anna Ung ◽  
Yukiko Yamazaki ◽  
Ben Fogelgren ◽  
...  

Abstract Origin Recognition Complex subunit 4 (ORC4) is a DNA binding protein required for DNA replication. During oocyte maturation, after the last oocyte DNA replication step and before zygotic DNA replication, the oocyte undergoes two meiotic cell divisions in which half the DNA is ejected in much smaller polar bodies. We previously demonstrated that ORC4 forms a cytoplasmic cage around the DNA that is ejected in both polar body extrusion (PBE) events. Here, we used ZP3 activated Cre to delete exon 7 of Orc4 during oogenesis to test how it affected both predicted functions of ORC4: its recently discovered role in PBE and its well-known role in DNA synthesis. Orc4 deletion severely reduced PBE. Almost half of Orc4-depleted GV oocytes cultured in vitro arrested before anaphase I (48%), and only 25% produced normal first polar bodies. This supports the role of ORC4 in PBE and suggests that transcription of the full length Orc4 during oogenesis is required for efficient PBE. Orc4 deletion also abolished zygotic DNA synthesis. A reduced number of Orc4-depleted oocytes developed to the MII stage and after activation these oocytes arrested at the 2-cell stage, without undergoing DNA synthesis. This confirms that transcription of full length Orc4 after the primary follicle stage is required for zygotic DNA replication. The data also suggest that MII oocytes do not have a replication licensing checkpoint since cytokinesis progressed without DNA synthesis. Together the data confirm that oocyte ORC4 is important for both PBE and zygotic DNA synthesis.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (19) ◽  
pp. 2470-2478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Carvalhal ◽  
Michelle Stevense ◽  
Katrin Koehler ◽  
Ronald Naumann ◽  
Angela Huebner ◽  
...  

Asymmetric cell divisions depend on the precise placement of the spindle apparatus. In mammalian oocytes, spindles assemble close to the cell’s center, but chromosome segregation takes place at the cell periphery where half of the chromosomes are expelled into small, nondeveloping polar bodies at anaphase. By dividing so asymmetrically, most of the cytoplasmic content within the oocyte is preserved, which is critical for successful fertilization and early development. Recently we determined that the nucleoporin ALADIN participates in spindle assembly in somatic cells, and we have also shown that female mice homozygously null for ALADIN are sterile. In this study we show that this protein is involved in specific meiotic stages, including meiotic resumption, spindle assembly, and spindle positioning. In the absence of ALADIN, polar body extrusion is compromised due to problems in spindle orientation and anchoring at the first meiotic anaphase. ALADIN null oocytes that mature far enough to be fertilized in vitro are unable to support embryonic development beyond the two-cell stage. Overall, we find that ALADIN is critical for oocyte maturation and appears to be far more essential for this process than for somatic cell divisions.


Zygote ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dušan Fabian ◽  
Štefan Čikoš ◽  
Pavol Rehák ◽  
Juraj Koppel

SummaryThe extrusion and elimination of unnecessary gametic/embryonic material is one of the key events that determines the success of further development in all living organisms. Oocytes produce the first polar body to fulfill the maturation process just before ovulation, and release the second polar body immediately after fertilization. The aim of this study was to compile a physiological overview of elimination of polar bodies during early preimplantation development in mice. Our results show that three-quarters of the first polar bodies were lost even at the zygotic stage; the 4-cell stage embryos contained only one (second) polar body, and the elimination of second polar bodies proceeded continuously during later development. Both first and second polar bodies showed several typical features of apoptosis: phosphatidylserine redistribution (observed for the first time in the first polar body), specific DNA degradation, condensed nuclear morphology, and inability to exclude cationic dye from the nucleus during the terminal stage of the apoptotic process. Caspase-3 activity was recorded only in the second polar body. From the morphological point of view, mouse polar bodies acted very similarly to damaged embryonic cells which have lost contact with their neighboring blastomeres. In conclusion, polar bodies possess all the molecular equipment necessary for triggering and executing an active suicide process. Furthermore, similarly as in dying embryonic cells, stressing external conditions (culture in vitro) might accelerate and increase the incidence of apoptotic elimination of the polar bodies in embryos.


Development ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 645-655
Author(s):  
Matthew H. Kaufman ◽  
Leo Sachs

The early development of parthenogenetically activated oocytes has been studied in C57BL × CBA-T6T6 (F1T6) translocation heterozygote mice and C57BL × CBA-LAC (F1LAC) mice. All F1T6 oocytes had either a quadrivalent or a univalent-trivalent configuration at meiosis I; no such chromosome configurations were observed in the F1LAC oocytes. At ovulation 36·5 % of the F1T6 oocytes had 19 or 21 chromosomes, whereas 97 % of the F1LAC had the normal haploid chromosome number of 20. After parthenogenetic activation, chromosome counts at metaphase of the first cleavage mitosis were made of the eggs with a single pronucleus following extrusion of the second polar body. These activated eggs had similar frequencies of 19, 20 and 21 chromosomes as had the oocytes at ovulation. The activated 1-cell eggs were transferred to the oviducts of pseudopregnant recipients and the embryos recovered 3 days later. At this stage of development, most of the F1T6 embryos with 19 chromosomes were no longer found, but the frequency of 21-chromosome embryos was similar to the frequency of 21-chromosome oocytes and activated eggs. There was a similar mean number of cells in the embryos with 20 and 21 chromosomes. The results indicate that nearly all the embryos with 19 chromosomes failed to develop, probably beyond the 2-cell stage, whereas oocytes with 21 chromosomes had a similar development to oocytes with 20 chromosomes up to the morula stage.


2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Hiruma ◽  
H. Ueda ◽  
H. Saito ◽  
C. Tanaka ◽  
N. Maeda ◽  
...  

To date only in vivo-produced embryos have successfully produced live piglets after cryopreservation. In this study, we aimed to produce piglets from vitrified embryos derived from in vitro matured (IVM) oocytes. Cumulus-oocyte complexes collected from ovaries obtained at a local slaughterhouse were matured for 44 to 45 h in NCSU23 MEDIUM supplemented with 0.6 mM cysteine, 10 ng/mL epidermal growth factor, 10% (v/v) porcine follicular fluid, 75 �g/mL potassium penicillin G, 50 �g/mL streptomycin sulfate, and 10 IU/mL eCG/ hCG. These IVM oocytes were either activated for parthenogenesis or in vitro-fertilized (IVF). For IVF, oocytes were incubated with 5 � 106/mL of cryopreserved epididymal sperm in PGM-tac medium (Yoshioka et al. 2003 Biol. Reprod. 69, 2092-2099) for 20 h. Embryos were treated for removal of cytoplasmic lipid droplets (delipation; Nagashima et al. 1995 Nature 374, 416) at the 4- to 8-cell stages, around 50 to 54 h after activation or insemination. After culture in NCSU23 for 15 h, they were vitrified by the minimum volume cooling (MVC) method. Embryos were equilibrated with equilibration solution containing 7.5% (v/v) ethylene glycol (EG), 7.5% (v/v) dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), and 20% (v/v) calf serum for 4 min, followed by exposure to vitrification solution containing 15% EG, 15% DMSO, 0.5 M sucrose, and 20% calf serum. Embryos were then loaded onto a Cryotop (Kitazato Supply Co., Tokyo, Japan) and immediately plunged into liquid nitrogen. Vitrified embryos were examined for viability in vitro and in vivo after warming. Their in vitro developmental competence was compared to that of corresponding control (nonvitrified) embryos. Vitrified 4- to 8-cell stage embryos, both parthenogenetic and IVF, showed developmental competence into blastocysts comparable to that of control embryos (parthenogenetic: 46.8%, 36/77 vs. 51.7%, 31/60; IVF: 40.0%, 30/75 vs. 44.3%, 35/79). Of four surrogate gilts that received a total of 251 vitrified parthenogenetic embryos, three became pregnant and had 20 fetuses (8.0%, 22 to 23 days old). Three surrogates gilts that received 267 vitrified IVF embryos all became pregnant. Of those, the one that received 47 embryos was confirmed to have eight fetuses (17.0%, 22 days old) by autopsy. The other two were examined by ultrasonography at 56 and 95 days of gestation and found to be pregnant. These results suggest that porcine embryos derived from IVM oocytes have a potential to develop into live offspring after delipation and MVC vitrification. This study was supported by PROBRAIN.


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