• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 1997

We determined the effects of follicular fluid fractions in the maturation medium on bovine oocyte maturation, fertilization and subsequent development, as well as on number of cells in blastocysts following culture. Follicular fluid and oocytes from bovine follicles less than 5 mm in diameter were collected from the ovaries of slaughtered cows. Follicular fluid was separated into different molecular weight fractions by untrafiltration through a membrane using a centrifuge at 500$\times$g, for 2h. For the maturation medium, follicular fluid fractions (30%, v/v), whole fluid (30%) or PVP(3mg/ml) were added to TCM 199(0.1$\mu\textrm{g}$/ml estradiol-17$\beta$, 100IU hCG). After maturation for 24h, oocytes were fertilized in vitro with bull frozen-thawed spermatozoa and cultured on a monolayer of granulosa cells for 9 days after fertilization. There were no differences in maturation rates or fertilization rates among any maturation conditions. The rates of development to >2-cell stage of the oocytes were significantly decreased when fraction of follicular fluid below 10,000 MW were added into maturation medium, compared with control and fraction above 10,000 MW(26.0% vs 40.8% to 64.0%, respectveily. p<0.01). Likewise, the rates of development to blastocysts of fertilized oocytes were significantly decreased in maturation medium containing fraction of follicular fluid (<10,000 MW). The average cell number of blastocysts derived from oocytes that matured in the fraction(>10,000 MW) of follicular fluid was 154.7$\pm$13.7. These embryos contained more cells than those matured in whole follicular fluid, or the fraction(<10, 000 MW) of follicular fluid or control(107.0$\pm$8.4, 91.8$\pm$11.8 and 95.8$\pm$6.2, respectively). In conclusion, we found that fractions of follicular fluid contained factors stimulating or inhibiting oocyte cytoplasmic matruation. These suggest that a factor(s) inducing cytoplasmic maturation of oocytes may exist in >10,000 MW fraction of follicular fluid.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Embryo Transfer Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.117-117
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• 2002

The oocytes from most of animal species accumulate genetic information and other necessary materials during oogenesis for the later use in the early development. Over the years oocyte maturation has been studied extensively both in vitro and in vivo. Particularly, maturation of follicular oocyte in vitro becomes one of the important tools for the studies of basic cell biology, the in vitro technology of animal production, and in particular, the somatic cell cloning by nuclear transfer. We examined meiotic maturation and cumulus expansion in the presence of translation or transcription inhibitors for varying periods of in viかo maturation (IVM) of pig oocyte. In Experiment 1, the results revealed that translation and transcription inhibitors inhibited cumulus expansion and meiotic maturation during 35h of IVM. However, 50 to 60% of the oocytes underwent nuclear maturation without cumulus expansion during 75h of IVM. The rest of the oocytes were arrested at metaphase I (40-50%) in the presence of the inhibitors. In Experiment II, the OCCs were exposed to the drugs only for 15h to examine translation and transcription inhibitors on cumulus expansion and meiotic maturation. Transcription inhibitors for 15h did not arrest meiotic maturation when the oocytes were cultured for subsequent, necessary period of IVM, whereas cumulus expansion was completely inhibited, suggesting that initial 15h is critical transcription activity far cumulus expansion. Translation inhibitors for 15h exposure did not alter cumulus expansion and meiotic maturation during subsequent culture in the absence of the drugs. In Experiment III, the OCCs were exposed to the drugs only for later 30h to examine the influence of transcription and translation inhibitors on oocyte maturation. Interestingly, all meiotic maturation underwent normally with full expansion of cumulus. Similar results were obtained from Experiment IV where 5h of exposure from 15 to 20h of IVM culture to the drugs was performed and subsequently cultured for same period in fresh medium. Taken there results together, both transcription and translation are necessary for nuclear maturation and cumulus expansion, and first 15h IVM for cumulus expansion is critical. The arrested oocytes by the drugs were still capable of undergoing nuclear maturation, although cumulus expansion was affected.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.19-23
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• 1997

This present study was carried out to examine the effect of maturation media and liquid boar semen on in vitro maturation and feritilization of pig oocytes. The results obtained were as follows : When the oocytes were cultured for 36∼42 hours in mTCM-199, Waymouth MB 725/1 and mTLP-PVA medium, the maturation rates were 90%, 92% and 88%, respectively. The sperm penetration rates of pig oocyte matured in vitro were 87%(mTCM-199), 90%(Waymouth MB 725/1) and 86%(mTLP-PVA), respectively. The rates of nuclear maturation and fertilization of pig oocytes among three different media did not differ. However, the rate of male pronucleus formation of pig oocytes was significantly higher in pig oocytes matured in Waymouth MB 725/1(91%) than oocytes matured in mTCM-199(66%) and mTLP-PVA(62%) medium (P<0.05). When the collected sperm-rich fraction without diluent was used fro in vitro fertilization in mTCM-199 fertilization medium, the fertilization rate was 87.9%. However, when the liquid boar semen diluted with B tschwiler diluent was used at day 3 and 5 after dilution, the fertilization rate was 40.8% and 0.0%, respectively.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 1994

This experiment was investigated the effect of presence of granulosa cells from follicles of different size on bovine oocyte maturation, cleavage and development to late stage. The nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation of oocytes in the IVM-IVF system are critical for subsequent embryo development. Granulosa cells when the co-cultured with oocytes may interact with cumulus-oocytes complexes and influence the development competence of the oocytes. Granulosa cells from medium (2~6 mm) and large(>1O mm) size follicles were recovered by aspiration, washed 3 times by centrifugation at 500 x g for 5 min. and used for co-culture at a concentration of 2~3 x 106 cells/mi. The oocytes were matured in vitro (IVM) for 24 hrs. in TCM-199 supplemented with 35 $\mu$g/ml FSH, 10 $\mu$g/ml LH, 1 $\mu$g/ml estradiol-17$\beta$ and granulosa cells at 39$^{\circ}C$ under 5% $CO_2$ in air. They were fertilized in vitro (IVF) by epididymal spermatozoa treated with heparin for 24 hrs., and then the zygotes were co-cultured in vitro (I VC) with bovine oviductal epithelial cells for 7 to 9 days. The assessment of maturation revealed that Grade J oocytes showed significantly(P

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.95-99
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• 2004

This study was carried out to assess whether the addition of myo-inositol to maturation medium could improve porcine oocyte maturation in vitro. Oocytes were cultured for the first 22 h in Witten's medium containing 10IU/$m\ell$ PMSG, 10 IU/$m\ell$ HCG supplemented with or without myo-inositol. Subsequently, they were cultured for additional 22 h in Witten's medium without hormone supplemented with or without myo-inositol. When the porcine oocytes were cultured in maturation medium containing myo-inositol, the proportion of metaphase II oocytes 44h after culture was higher in the myo-inositol group(P<0.05). To study effects of cumulus cell on the maturation induced by myo-inositol, we examined the maturation status of cumulus-enclosed or cumulus-denuded porcine follicular oocytes. The rates of maturation were significantly higher in the cumulus-enclosed oocytes(P<0.05). However, the maturation rates of cumulus-denuded oocytes cultured in medium containing myo-inositol were higher than those of control group(P<0.05). Our results suggest that myo-inositol may affect meiotic progression of porcine follicular oocytes and supplementation of myo-inositol in maturation medium may be useful for the in vitro maturation of porcine follicular oocytes.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.57 no.8
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• pp.27.1-27.6
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• 2015

This study was designed to investigate the effects of ${\alpha}$-tocopherol and granulosa cells monolayer on nuclear maturation and cleavage rates of ovine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs). The COCs (n = 2814) were matured in maturation medium supplemented with various concentration of ${\alpha}$-tocopherol (0, 5, 10, $15{\mu}g/ml$), oocytes were incubated at $39^{\circ}C$ with 5 % $CO_2$ for 24 h in three culture systems: (a) maturation medium (MM; n = 884), (b) co-cultured with granulosa cells (CG; n = 982) and (c) co-cultured with granulosa cells and cells were further cultured in MM for 12 h (CG + 12hMM; n = 948). Our results showed that ${\alpha}$-tocopherol had no effect on GVBD and MII as compared to control group, but when ${\alpha}$-tocopherol added to maturation medium the rate of cleavage decreased. This indicates interaction of above mentioned factors in any of the treatments showed no significant differences on the rate of maturation and cleavage stages (MII, GVBD and cleavage) (p > 0.05). The oocytes co-cultured with granulosa cells for 24 h had beneficial effects on cleavage rate. The maximum MII and cleavage rates were achieved when oocytes had extra 12 h culture in the maturation medium without granulosa cells. Results also showed our modified co-culture system (CG + 12hMM), improved rates of MII and the cleavage in comparison with other studied maturation systems.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 2013

A specific inhibitor of RNA polymerase II, ${\alpha}$-amanitin is broadly used to block transcriptional activities in cells. Previous studies showed that ${\alpha}$-amanitin affects in vitro maturation of cumulus-oocyte-complex (COC). In this study, we evaluated the target of ${\alpha}$-amanitin, and whether it affects oocytes or cumulus cells (CCs), or both. We treated ${\alpha}$-amanitin with different time period during in vitro culture of denuded oocytes (DOs) or COCs in comparison, and observed the changes in morphology and maturation status. Although DOs did not show any change in morphology and maturation rates with ${\alpha}$-amanitin treatment, oocytes from COCs were arrested at metaphase I (MI) stage and CCs were more scattered than control groups. To discover causes of meiotic arrest and scattering of CCs, we focused on changes of cumulus expansion, gap junctions, and cellular metabolism which to be the important factors for the successful in vitro maturation of COCs. Expression of genes for cumulus expansion markers (Ptx3, Has2, and Tnfaip6) and gap junctional proteins (Gja1, Gja4, and Gjc1) decreased in ${\alpha}$-amanitin-treated CCs. However, these changes were not observed in oocytes. In addition, expression of genes related to metabolism (Prps1, Rpe, Rpia, Taldo1, and Tkt) decreased in ${\alpha}$-amanitin-treated CCs but not in oocytes. Therefore, we concluded that the transcriptional activities of CCs for supporting suitable transcripts, especially for its metabolic activities and formation of gap junctions among CCs as well as with oocytes, are important for oocytes maturation in COCs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1404-1410
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• 2008

This study was performed to clarify whether the variation of stress related heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) (GenBank X68213) gene was associated with the nuclear morphological change of in vitro maturation and in vitro capacitation in oocytes of pig ovaries obtained at the slaughterhouse. The nucleic acid substitution of C to G at the 483rd position was found out in HSP70 K1 (290-512) from X68213. The ovaries were categorized into CC, CG, and GG genotypes using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) (BsiHKA I). After the second in vitro maturation of immature fresh oocytes, the relation of nuclear morphological change in oocytes with the genotype of HSP70 K1 gene was such that the MII ratios of the genotype GG and CG (46.93% and 42.20%, respectively) were significantly higher than that of the CC genotype (10.71%) (p<0.05). With respect to in vitro maturation of frozen-thawed oocytes by an open pulled straw (OPS) method, the percentage of oocytes matured to MII stage of the CG genotype showed a higher trend than CC and GG genotypes. After the in vitro maturation of immature fresh oocytes and frozen-thawed oocytes by the OPS method, the relation of the pronuclei change in oocytes matured in vitro with HSP70 genotype was assessed, and the result showed that the enlarged sperm heads (ESH) of matured fresh oocytes and frozen-thawed oocytes were 80.0% and 60.0% in the CC genotype, respectively. The CC genotype group had a significantly higher rate of ESH than the CG and the GG genotype group (p<0.05). The ratios of polyspermic invasion were not different among HSP70 of the three genotypes. It was considered that the rate of in vitro maturation of fertilized oocytes was expected to differ according to genotype of the stress related gene.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2003

The present study was performed to investigate the first polar body(PB) extrusion during in-vitro maturation(IVM) and to examine the effect of different maturation time on the embryo development of Korean Native Cows(KNC) with regard to blastocyst(BL) cell numbers and pregnancy rates. PB extrusion did not take place for the first 12 hours(hr) of IVM, and most of KNC oocytes extruded PB from 14 to 20 hr after the onset of maturation. There was no significant difference in cleavage and 8-cell stage rates among the treatment groups, but BL and BL/8-cell rates were significantly higher(P<0.05) in 18 hr maturation group(31.0$\pm$5.7 and 82.0$\pm$5.1%) than 22 and 24 hr maturation group. The proportion of BL formed on day 7 and 8 was significantly higher(P<0.05) in 18 hr maturation group(85%) than in 24 hr maturation group(55%). There was a significant difference(P<0.05) in inner cell mass, trophectoderm and total cell number between day 7 BL produced by in-vivo and IVM 18 hr and day 8 BL produced by IVM 18 hr and 24 hr. Pregnancy rates are also significantly higher(P<0.05) in in-vivo(56.3%) and IVM 18 hr day 7(50.0%) group than day 8 treatment groups(18 hr: 16.7%, 24 hr: 10.5%). These results suggest that KNC oocytes achieve developmental competency within 20 hr of IVM, and "short" IVM (18 hr) is more effective than "long" IVM(24 hr) in embryo development rates, BL cell numbers and pregnancy rates.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 1994

Response of the oocytes to parthenogenetic activation is one of the indice for cytoplasmic maturation. Maturational age-dependent parthenogenetic activation was examined in bovine oocytes. Follicular oocytes recovered from the slaughter house ovaries were matured in vitro in TCM 199+15% FCS+1Oiu/ml PMSG +10 iu/ml hCG from 24 to 48 h at 6 h intervals. The in vitro matured oocytes were activated by 7% ethanol for 7 min. The nuclear maturation and the cytoplasmic maturation were analysed by the nuclear configuration and pronuclei formation stained by rapid staining method. Cumulus oophori expansion increased as the maturation time increased. Proportions of the nuclear maturation were 81, 89, 72, 60 and 60% in IVM 24, 30, 36, 42 and 48 h groups, respectively. Abnor¬mality in metaphase II chromosome increased sharply from 36 h IVM. The rates of the pronuclei formation and diploid upon ethanol activation were 67, 68, 73, 84 and 87%, and 4, 5, 10, 16 and 20% in IVM 24, 30, 36, 42 and 48 h groups, respectively. It was suggested that maturational age increased the formation of the pronuclei and diploid, and that cytoplasmic maturation require longer maturation period than normal nuclear maturation. These results should be useful for determination of an appropriate time for fertilization in mammalian eggs matured or preincubated in vitro.