Epitalon-activated telomerase enhance bovine oocyte maturation rate and post-thawed embryo development

IF 5.2 2区医学 Q1 MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL

Life sciences Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI:10.1016/j.lfs.2025.123381

Safeer Ullah , Zaheer Haider , Chalani Dilshani Perera , Su Hyeon Lee , Muhammad Idrees , Song Park , Il-Keun Kong

{"title":"Epitalon-activated telomerase enhance bovine oocyte maturation rate and post-thawed embryo development","authors":"Safeer Ullah , Zaheer Haider , Chalani Dilshani Perera , Su Hyeon Lee , Muhammad Idrees , Song Park , Il-Keun Kong","doi":"10.1016/j.lfs.2025.123381","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Telomerase is highly expressed in oocyte cumulus cells and plays a significant role in follicular development and oocyte maturation. In this study, we hypothesized that in vitro culture conditions may affect telomerase activity during in vitro embryo production (IVP) and that its activation may improve embryo quality. We first examined telomerase protein levels and localization in bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes via immunofluorescence assays. The results showed that healthy cumulus-oocyte complexes have the nuclear localization of the telomerase while the degraded cumulus-oocyte complex had reduced telomerase levels and that telomerase was localized in the cytoplasm. We activated telomerase via Epitalon, a tetrapeptide with the amino acid sequence Ala-Glut-Asp-Gly. We observed a significant improvement in the oocyte maturation rate compared with the control group (<em>p</em> < 0.05). Furthermore, telomerase activity was significantly compromised in post-thawed embryos, and Epitalon treatment significantly improved blastocyst hatching rate and implantation potential (<em>p</em> < 0.05). Moreover, we performed qPCR, reactive oxygen species, and JC-1 (ΔΨm) assays to evaluate the effect of Epitalon on the health of in vitro mature oocytes, cumulus cells, and post-thawed blastocysts, and the result showed that Epitalon highly enhances the quality and health of the oocyte, cumulus cell, and post-thawed blastocyst. Our results suggest that telomerase activation via Epitalon improves bovine in vitro embryo production.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18122,"journal":{"name":"Life sciences","volume":"362 ","pages":"Article 123381"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Life sciences","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024320525000141","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Telomerase is highly expressed in oocyte cumulus cells and plays a significant role in follicular development and oocyte maturation. In this study, we hypothesized that in vitro culture conditions may affect telomerase activity during in vitro embryo production (IVP) and that its activation may improve embryo quality. We first examined telomerase protein levels and localization in bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes via immunofluorescence assays. The results showed that healthy cumulus-oocyte complexes have the nuclear localization of the telomerase while the degraded cumulus-oocyte complex had reduced telomerase levels and that telomerase was localized in the cytoplasm. We activated telomerase via Epitalon, a tetrapeptide with the amino acid sequence Ala-Glut-Asp-Gly. We observed a significant improvement in the oocyte maturation rate compared with the control group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, telomerase activity was significantly compromised in post-thawed embryos, and Epitalon treatment significantly improved blastocyst hatching rate and implantation potential (p < 0.05). Moreover, we performed qPCR, reactive oxygen species, and JC-1 (ΔΨm) assays to evaluate the effect of Epitalon on the health of in vitro mature oocytes, cumulus cells, and post-thawed blastocysts, and the result showed that Epitalon highly enhances the quality and health of the oocyte, cumulus cell, and post-thawed blastocyst. Our results suggest that telomerase activation via Epitalon improves bovine in vitro embryo production.

查看原文本刊更多论文

表italon活化的端粒酶促进牛卵母细胞成熟率和解冻后胚胎发育。

端粒酶在卵母细胞卵丘细胞中高表达，在卵泡发育和卵母细胞成熟过程中起重要作用。在本研究中，我们假设体外培养条件可能影响体外胚胎生产（IVP）过程中端粒酶的活性，其激活可能提高胚胎质量。我们首先通过免疫荧光法检测了端粒酶蛋白水平和牛卵母细胞复合物的定位。结果表明，健康的卵丘-卵母细胞复合物具有端粒酶的核定位，而降解的卵丘-卵母细胞复合物的端粒酶水平降低，端粒酶定位于细胞质中。我们通过Epitalon激活端粒酶，Epitalon是一种氨基酸序列为Ala-Glut-Asp-Gly的四肽。与对照组相比，我们观察到卵母细胞成熟率有显著提高(p

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Life sciences 医学-药学

CiteScore

12.20

自引率

1.60%

发文量

841

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： Life Sciences is an international journal publishing articles that emphasize the molecular, cellular, and functional basis of therapy. The journal emphasizes the understanding of mechanism that is relevant to all aspects of human disease and translation to patients. All articles are rigorously reviewed. The Journal favors publication of full-length papers where modern scientific technologies are used to explain molecular, cellular and physiological mechanisms. Articles that merely report observations are rarely accepted. Recommendations from the Declaration of Helsinki or NIH guidelines for care and use of laboratory animals must be adhered to. Articles should be written at a level accessible to readers who are non-specialists in the topic of the article themselves, but who are interested in the research. The Journal welcomes reviews on topics of wide interest to investigators in the life sciences. We particularly encourage submission of brief, focused reviews containing high-quality artwork and require the use of mechanistic summary diagrams.