• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.285-296
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• 1994

Follicular oocytes were released from the graafian follicles of ovaries from 3-4 weeks old mice. The spontaenous maturation of these follicular oocyes was inhibited by the treatment of dbcAMP and progesterone and these oocytes were cultured for 2-8hr in the Modified Hank's balanced salt solution(MHBS). Ethylenediaminetetraaceticacid(EDTA) and calmoudulin antagonist, trifluoperazine (TFP) were treated to the culture medium in order to investigate whether these chemical agents inhibit calcium uptake into the oocyte and oocyte maturation. $^{45}Ca^{2+}$, 10-${\mu}$Ci/ml was added to the culture medium during the culture period. $^{45}Ca^{2+}$uptake into the oocytes was examined whether and when various kind of oocyte maturation inhibiting agents inhibit or stimulate the influx of calcium into oocytes. Dibutyryl cAMP and progesterone decrease $^{45}Ca^{2+}$uptake into the oocytes and synergistic inhibiting effect of dbcAMP and progesterone was prominent at much lower dosages. Calcium uptake into oocytes seems to be higher during first 2 hour culture period rather than next 4hr culture. After 8hr culture, calcium uptake level of the oocytes which GVBD already took place gradually approached to the level of those which were maintained at GV by the treatment of dbcAMP and progesterone. However, $^{45}Ca^{2+}$uptake into the GV maintained oocytes did not change at all even after 8hr culture period. In addition, calcium chelating agent, EDTA inhibited calcium uptake into oocytes as well as nuclear maturation of oocytes. Lower dosage used in the present study did not inhibit calcium uptake as well as oocyte maturation.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.155-168
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• 2004

Objective: Melatonin, which is secreted by pineal gland play an important role in the regulation of ovarian function via seasonal rhythm and sleep in most mammals. It also has a role in the protection of cells by removing toxic oxygen free radicals brought about by metabolism. In the present study, effects of melatonin on the mouse oocyte maturation were examined using two different culture conditions provided with 5% or 21% oxygen concentration. Material and Method: Immature mouse oocytes were obtained from the ovarian follicles of $3{\sim}4$ weeks old ICR strain mice intraperitoneally injected with 5 I.U. PMSG 44 hour before. Under stereomicroscope, morphologically healthy oocytes with distinct germinal vesicle (GV) were liberated from the graafian follicles and collected using mouth-controlled micropipette. They were then cultured for 17 hour at $37^{circ}C$, 5% $CO_2$ and 21% $O_2$ (95% air) or 5% $CO_2$, 5% $O_2$ and 90% $N_2$. New modified Hank's balanced salt solution (New MHBS) was used as a culture medium throughout the experiments. Effects of melatonin were examined at a concentration of $0.0001{\mu}M$, $0.01{\mu}M$ or $1.0{\mu}M$. For the prevention of spontaneous maturation of immature oocytes during culture, dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP) and/or hypoxanthine were included in the medium. Results: Under 21% oxygen condition, oocytes cultured in the presence of $0.01{\mu}M$ melatonin showed a significantly higher maturation rates, in terms of germinal vesicle breakdown (95.0% vs 89.0%) and polar body formation (88.1% vs 75.4%), compared to those cultured with $0.0001{\mu}M$ or $1.0{\mu}M$ melatonin. However, no difference was observed in oocytes cultured under 5% oxygen whether they were treated with melatonin or not. In the presence of $0.01{\mu}M$ melatonin, oocytes either cultured under 21% or 5% oxygen exhibited no difference in the polar body formation (85.6% vs 86.7%). However, in the absence of melatonin, oocytes cultured under 21% oxygen exhibited lower polar body formation (74.7%). When oocytes were cultured in the presence of dbcAMP alone or with varying concentrations of melatonin, those treated with both compounds always showed better maturation, i.e., germinal vesicle breakdown and polar body formation, compared to those cultured with dbcAMP alone. At the same concentration of melatonin, however, oocytes exposed to 21% oxygen showed poor maturation than those to 5% oxygen. Similar results were obtained from the experiments using hypoxanthine instead of dbcAMP. Conclusion: Based upon these results, it is suggested that melatonin could enhance the meiotic maturation of mouse oocytes under 21% oxygen concentration, and release oocytes from the meiotic arrest by dbcAMP or hypoxanthine regardless of the concentration of oxygen, probably via the removal of oxygen free radicals.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2001

We evaluated the effects of the substrate and inhibitors related to phosphatidylinositol metabolism on in vitro maturation and fertilization of porcine oocytes. Cumulus-oocyte complexes were cultured in mTLP-PVA medium supplemented with or without inositol (250 mM) fur 46h. Subsequently, these oocytes were inseminated with fresh boar semen in mTALP-PVA medium for 6h. At 6h after insemination, oocytes were cultured for further 12 h in TCM-199 supplemented with 10% FBS (fetal bovine serum). The higher percentage of oocytes in inositol-supplemented medium reached metaphase of the second meiotic division compared to those in control (81.4% vs. 67.3%; P<0.()5). following 18 h of insemination, more number of male pronuclei were formed in the oocytes matured in inositol-supplemented medium than in those of control experiment (42.0% vs. 27.3%; P<0.05). When oocytes were cultured in medium with 10mM LiCl (chloride lithium) or 0.5mM dbcAMP (dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate) to determine the role of inositol on the maturation of oocytes, these two drugs inhibited the meiotic division of oocytes (P<0.05). However, addition of inositol to the culture medium did overcome the inhibitory effect of these drugs on the oocyte maturation. DbcAMP and verapamil supplemented synergistically arrested the meiotic division of oocytes. Addition of verapamil did not inhibit germinal vesicle breakdown, but it severly inhibited the second meiotic division of oocytes. These results suggest that inositol exert its improving effects on maturation, by activating the PI (phosphatidylinositol) cycle and causing beneficial changes in both cytoplasm and membrane of oocytes.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.33-33
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• 2003

This study was conduct to compare the efficacy to produce male and female somatic cloned piglets. Maturation of porcine COCs was accomplished by incubation in NCSU-23 medium supplemented with 0.6 mM cysteine, 10% porcine follicular fluid, 1mM dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate (dbc-AMP, Sigma, USA), and 0.1 IU/ml human menopausal gonadotrophin (hMG, Teikokuzoki, Japan) for 20h and then cultured without dbcAMP and hMG for another 18 to 24 h. Female and male fetal cells were isolated from each fetus, cultured in ES-DMEM medium containing 10% FCS. Enucleated oocytes were fused with fetal fibroblasts (passage 4 to 15). Reconstructed embryos were cultured in NCSU-23 with 4 mg/ml BSA under mineral oil at 39$^{\circ}C$ in 5% $CO_2$ in air. A total of 12,328 nuclear-transferred embryos (1- to 4-cell stage) were surgically transferred into 69 surrogate gilts. Three recipients aborted during the period of conception. Three gilts delivered eleven female piglets, and five recipients gave rise to birth 22 male piglets. The average birth weigh of the cloned piglets was 1.52 kg (1.38~1.83 kg) in female piglets and 0.84 kg (0.45~1.25 kg) in male piglets. Alive cloned pigs was seven in female piglets (63.6%) and four in male piglets (18.2%). The other two recipients is ongoing. This study suggests that female-derived fetal cell as a nuclear donor has more capability on production of cloned piglets than male.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.452-459
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• 2002

Neutrophil apoptosis is a constitutive process that can be enhanced or delayed by various stimuli. In this study, effect of brefeldin A (BFA), which affects biological process of secretion, on constitutive and delayed apoptosis of neutrophils was investigated. Neutrophil apoptosis was determined after culturing for 20 hr in vitro by morphological changes, annexin V staining and DNA electrophoresis. BFA increased the constitutive apoptotic rate of neutrophils in dose-dependent manner. The delay of apoptosis induced by granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor and lipopolysaccharide was also blocked by 10 $\mu$M of BFA. However, this effect of BFA was less marked when neutrophils were treated with dexamethasone, interleukin-8, or dibutyryl-cAMP. Moreover, the delay of neutrophil apoptosis induced by rottlerin, a specific inhibitor of protein kinase C-$\delta$ was significantly abrogated by BFA. Although BFA-induced apoptosis was not blocked by the caspase-3 inhibitor, zDEVD-fmk, expression levels of myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1) were down-regulated by BFA. These results suggest that derangement of vesicular protein transport may be involved in the apoptosis of neutrophils, and that the action of BFA on apoptosis is dependent on changes in the expression of Mcl-1.

• Oncology Letters
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.1621-1630
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• 2019

One million females are diagnosed worldwide every year with breast cancer, and the mortality rate of these patients remains high. Several treatments, including surgery, are available for breast cancer. β-Lapachone (β-Lap), a natural quinone compound, has been developed for cancer treatment due to its strong cytotoxic effect through its action on NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1)-dependent activity. However, the mechanism in regards to how β-Lap induces cytotoxicity in breast cancer cells is still elusive. In the present study, we showed that β-Lap induced apoptotic cell death via activation of protein kinase A (PKA) in NQO1-overexpressing MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells. This PKA-dependent cell death was observed solely in NQO1-overexpressing 231 cells via the high production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Cell survival of antioxidant [N-acetylcysteine (NAC)]-treated NQO1-overexpressing 231 cells was significantly recovered, and NQO1-negative 231 cells did not respond to β-Lap. Antiapoptotic proteins such as Bcl2 and Bcl-xL were decreased, while proapoptotic proteins, including cytochrome c, activation of caspase-3, and cleavage of PARP were increased after β-Lap treatment of NQO1-overexpressing 231 cells. Furthermore, PKA activators, forskolin or dibutyryl-cAMP, an analog of cAMP, aggravated the β-Lap-induced apoptotic cell death by decreasing antiapoptotic proteins and further activating proapoptotic proteins in NQO1-positive 231 cells. Treatment with a PKA inhibiter, H89, significantly increased cell viability even in NQO1-overexpressing cells treated with β-Lap. These data showed that β-Lap activated PKA via ROS accumulation, subsequently leading to apoptotic cell death in NQO1-positive breast cancer cells.