IN VITRO MATURATION OF BOVINE OOCYTES FOR IN VITRO FERTILIZATION

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to asses the quality of various cultivation media used for the maturation of bovine oocytes that are prepared for IVF. Upon collection from slaughtered bovine ovaries and after morphological evaluation, a total number of 513 viable oocytes have been selected for cultivation, being divided into 3 batches, 171 oocytes / batch. The oocytes belonging to batch 1 were cultivated in TCM 199 NaHCO3 + 10% FCS + FSH 20 μl/ml. The oocytes belonging to batch 2 were cultivated in TCM 199 NaHCO3 + 10% FCS + HCG 2.3 x 103 UI/ml + FSH 8 μl/ml + pyruvate 0.25 mM + 17β estradiol 1 μl/ml. The oocytes belonging to batch 3 were cultivated in TCM 199 NaHCO3 + 10% FCS + 17β estradiol 1 μl/ml + FSH 20 μl/ml. The cultivation conditions, for all three batches, were: 24 hours at 39°C, 5% CO2. Spermatozoa have been prepared using the Percoll method and IVF of the matured oocytes has been performed. Embryonic development has been assessed 72 hours and then up to 10 days after IVF. The results showed the superior quality of the oocytes belonging to batch 2 and matured using TCM 199 NaHCO3 + 10% FCS + HCG 2.3x103 UI/ml + FSH 8 μl/ml + pyruvate 0.25 mM + 17β estradiol 1 μl/ml, as their use for IVF yielded the highest number of viable embryos.