Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T21:28:57.728Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of supplementation of different growth factors in embryo culture medium with a small number of bovine embryos on in vitro embryo development and quality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2012

C. J. Ahumada ,
I. Salvador ,
A. Cebrian-Serrano ,
R. Lopera  and
M. A. Silvestre
C. J. Ahumada
Affiliation:
Centro de Tecnología Animal, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (CITA-IVIA), Apdo 187, Pol. La Esperanza no. 100, 12400 Segorbe, Castellón, Spain
I. Salvador
Affiliation:
Centro de Tecnología Animal, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (CITA-IVIA), Apdo 187, Pol. La Esperanza no. 100, 12400 Segorbe, Castellón, Spain
A. Cebrian-Serrano
Affiliation:
Centro de Tecnología Animal, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (CITA-IVIA), Apdo 187, Pol. La Esperanza no. 100, 12400 Segorbe, Castellón, Spain
R. Lopera
Affiliation:
Centro de Tecnología Animal, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (CITA-IVIA), Apdo 187, Pol. La Esperanza no. 100, 12400 Segorbe, Castellón, Spain
M. A. Silvestre*
Affiliation:
Centro de Tecnología Animal, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (CITA-IVIA), Apdo 187, Pol. La Esperanza no. 100, 12400 Segorbe, Castellón, Spain Departament de Biologia Funcional i Antropologia Física, Universitat de València, 46100 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain
*
†E-mail: miguel.silvestre@uv.es
Get access

Abstract

When embryos are cultured individually or in small groups, blastocyst yield efficiency and quality are usually reduced. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of supplementation of the embryo culture medium (CM) with several growth factors (GFs) on embryo development and apoptosis rate when a reduced number of embryos were in vitro cultured. Two experimental studies (ES) were carried out. In ES 1, five treatments were tested to study the effect of GF on embryo development: Control (∼30 to 50 embryos cultured in 500 μl of CM); Control 5 (Five embryos cultured in 50 μl microdrops of CM), without addition of GF in either of the two control groups; epidermal GF (EGF); IGF-I; and transforming GF-α (TGF-α) (Five embryos were cultured in 50 μl microdrops of CM with 10 ng/ml EGF, 10 ng/ml IGF-I or 10 ng/ml TGF-α, respectively). In ES 2, following the results obtained in ES 1, four different treatments were tested to study their effect on embryo development and quality (number of cells per blastocyst and apoptotic rate): Control; Control 5; EGF, all three similar to ES 1; EGF + IGF-I group (five embryos cultured in 50 μl microdrops of CM with 10 ng/ml EGF and 10 ng/ml IGF-I). In both ESs, it was observed that a higher proportion of embryos cultured in larger groups achieved blastocyst stage than embryos cultured in reduced groups (22.6% v. 14.0%, 12.6% and 5.3% for Control v. Control 5, IGF-I, TGF-α groups in ES 1, and 24.9% v. 17.1% and 19.0% for Control v. Control 5 and EGF in ES 2, respectively; P < 0.05), with the exception of embryos cultured in medium supplemented with EGF (18.5%) or with EGF + IGF-I (23.5%), in ES 1 and ES 2, respectively. With regard to blastocyst quality, embryos cultured in reduced groups and supplemented with EGF, alone or combined with IGF-I, presented lower apoptosis rates than embryos cultured in reduced groups without GF supplementation (11.6% and 10.5% v. 21.9% for EGF, EGF + IGF-I and Control 5 groups, respectively; P < 0.05). The experimental group did not affect the total number of cells per blastocyst. In conclusion, this study showed that supplementation of the CM with EGF and IGF could partially avoid the deleterious effect of in vitro culture of small groups of bovine embryos, increasing blastocyst rates and decreasing apoptosis rates of these blastocysts.

Keywords

bovine embryoreduced groupsin vitro culturegrowth factorapoptosis
Type
Physiology and functional biology of systems
Information
animal , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , March 2013 , pp. 455 - 462
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Al-Katanani, YM, Drost, M, Monson, RL, Rutledge, JJ, Krininger, CE, Block, J, Thatcher, WW, Hanse, PJ 2002. Pregnancy rates following timed embryo transfer with fresh or vitrified in vitro produced embryos in lactating dairy cows under heat stress conditions. Theriogenology 58, 171–182.Google Scholar
Ambrose, JD, Drost, M, Monson, RL, Rutledge, JJ, Leibfried-Rutledge, ML, Thatcher, MJ, Kassa, T, Binelli, M, Hansen, PJ, Chenoweth, PJ, Thatcher, WW 1999. Efficacy of timed embryo transfer with fresh and frozen in vitro produced embryos to increase pregnancy rates in heat-stressed dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 82, 2369–2376.Google Scholar
Bavister, BD 1995. Culture of preimplantation embryos: facts and artifacts. Human Reproduction Update 1, 91–148.Google Scholar
Block, J, Wrenzycki, C, Niemann, H, Herrmann, D, Hansen, PJ 2008. Effects of insulin-like growth factor-1 on cellular and molecular characteristics of bovine blastocysts produced in vitro. Molecular Reproduction and Development 75, 895–903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Block, J, Drost, M, Monson, RL, Rutledge, JJ, Rivera, RM, Paula-Lopes, FF, Ocon, OM, Krininger, CE, Liu, J, Hansen, PJ 2003. Use of insulin-like growth factor-I during embryo culture and treatment of recipients with gonadotropin-releasing hormone to increase pregnancy rates following the transfer of in vitro-produced embryos to heat-stressed, lactating cows. Journal of Animal Science 81, 1590–1602.Google Scholar
Booth, PJ, Watson, TJ, Leese, HL 2007. Prediction of porcine blastocyst formation using morphological, kinetic, and amino acid depletion and appearance criteria determined during the early cleavage of in vitro-produced embryos. Biology of Reproduction 77, 765–779.Google Scholar
Brice, EC, Wu, JX, Muraro, R, Adamson, ED, Wiley, LM 1993. Modulation of mouse preimplantation development by epidermal growth factor receptor antibodies, antisense RNA, and deoxyoligonucleotides. Developmental Genetics 14, 174–184.Google Scholar
Brison, DR, Schultz, RM 1997. Apoptosis during mouse blastocyst formation: evidence for a role for survival factors including transforming growth factor alpha. Biology of Reproduction 56, 1088–1096.Google Scholar
Byrne, AT, Southgate, J, Brison, DR, Leese, HJ 2002. Effects of insulin-like growth factors I and II on tumour-necrosis-factor-alpha-induced apoptosis in early murine embryos. Reproduction Fertility and Development 14, 79–83.Google Scholar
Carolan, C, Lonergan, P, Khatir, H, Mermillod, P 1996. In vitro production of bovine embryos using individual oocytes. Molecular Reproduction and Development 45, 145–150.Google Scholar
Chaubal, SA, Molina, JA, Ohlrichs, CL, Ferre, LB, Faber, DC, Bols, PEJ, Riesen, JW, Tian, X, Yang, X 2006. Comparison of different transvaginal ovum pick-up protocols to optimise oocyte retrieval and embryo production over a 10-week period in cows. Theriogenology 65, 1631–1648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Moraes, AA, Hansen, PJ 1997. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor promotes development of in vitro produced bovine embryos. Biology of Reproduction 57, 1060–1065.Google Scholar
Flood, MR, Gage, TL, Bunch, TD 1993. Effect of various growth-promoting factors on preimplantation bovine embryo development in vitro. Theriogenology 39, 823–833.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fujita, T, Umeki, H, Shimura, H, Kugumiya, K, Shiga, K 2006. Effect of group culture and embryo-culture conditioned medium on development of bovine embryos. Journal of Reproduction and Development 52, 137–142.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goovaerts, IGF, Leroy, JLMR, Van Soom, A, De Clercq, JBP, Andries, S, Bols, PEJ 2009. Effect of cumulus cell coculture and oxygen tension on the in vitro developmental competence of bovine zygotes cultured singly. Theriogenology 71, 729–738.Google Scholar
Goovaerts, IG, Leroy, JL, Rizos, D, Bermejo-Alvarez, P, Gutierrez-Adan, A, Jorssen, EP, Bols, PE 2011. Single in vitro bovine embryo production: coculture with autologous cumulus cells, developmental competence, embryo quality and gene expression profiles. Theriogenology 76, 1293–1303.Google Scholar
Gopichandran, N, Leese, HJ 2006. The effect of paracrine/autocrine interactions on the in vitro culture of bovine preimplantation embryos. Reproduction 131, 269–277.Google Scholar
Guérin, P, El Mouatassim, S, Ménézo, Y 2001. Oxidative stress and protection against reactive oxygen species in the pre-implantation embryo and its surroundings. Human Reproduction Update 7, 175–189.Google Scholar
Hardy, K, Spanos, S 2002. Growth factor expression and function in the human and mouse preimplantation embryo. Journal of Endocrinology 172, 221–236.Google Scholar
Hoelker, M, Rings, F, Lund, Q, Ghanem, N, Phatsara, C, Griese, J, Schellander, K, Tesfaye, D 2009. Effect of the microenvironment and embryo density on developmental characteristics and gene expression profile of bovine preimplantative embryos cultured in vitro. Reproduction 137, 415–425.Google Scholar
Holm, P, Booth, PJ, Schmidt, MH, Greve, T, Callesen, H 1999. High bovine blastocyst development in a static in vitro production system using SOFaa medium supplemented with sodium citrate and myo-inositol with or without serum-proteins. Theriogenology 52, 683–700.Google Scholar
Joo, BS, Kim, MK, Na, YJ, Moon, HS, Lee, KS, Kim, HD 2001. The mechanism of action of coculture on embryo development in the mouse model: direct embryo-to-cell contact and the removal of deleterious components. Fertility and Sterility 75, 193–199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jousan, FD, Hansen, PJ 2004. Insulin-like growth factor-I as a survival factor for the bovine preimplantation embryo exposed to heat shock. Biology of Reproduction 71, 1665–1670.Google Scholar
Keefer, CL, Stice, SL, Paprocki, AM, Golueke, P 1994. In vitro culture of bovine IVM-IVF embryos: cooperative interaction among embryos and the role of growth factors. Theriogenology 41, 1323–1331.Google Scholar
Kitagawa, Y, Suzuki, K, Yoneda, A, Watanabe, T 2004. Effects of oxygen concentration and antioxidants on the in vitro developmental ability, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and DNA fragmentation in porcine embryos. Theriogenology 62, 1186–1197.Google Scholar
Krisher, RL, Wheeler, MB 2010. Towards the use of microfluidics for individual embryo culture. Reproduction Fertility and Development 22, 32–39.Google Scholar
Kurzawa, R, Glabowski, W, Baczkowski, T, Wiszniewska, B, Marchlewicz, M 2004. Growth factors protect in vitro cultured embryos from the consequences of oxidative stress. Zygote 12, 231–240.Google Scholar
Lane, M, Gardner, DK 1992. Effect of incubation volume and embryo density on the development and viability of mouse embryos in vitro. Human Reproduction 7, 558–562.Google Scholar
Larson, MA, Kubisch, HM 1999. The effects of group size on development and interferon-tau secretion by in-vitro fertilised and cultured bovine blastocysts. Human Reproduction 14, 2075–2079.Google Scholar
Lee, ES, Fukui, Y 1995. Effect of various growth factors in a defined culture medium on in vitro development of bovine embryos matured and fertilised in vitro. Theriogenology 44, 71–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leese, HJ, Baumann, CG, Brison, DR, McEvoy, TG, Sturmey, RG 2008. Metabolism of the viable mammalian embryo: quietness revisited. Molecular Human Reproduction 14, 667–672.Google Scholar
Lim, JM, Hansel, W 1996. Roles of growth factors in the development of bovine embryos fertilised in vitro and cultured singly in a defined medium. Reproduction, Fertility and Development 8, 1199–1205.Google Scholar
Lim, KT, Jang, G, Ko, KH, Lee, WW, Park, HJ, Kim, JJ, Lee, SH, Hwang, WS, Lee, BC, Kanget, SK 2007. Improved in vitro bovine embryo development and increased efficiency in producing viable calves using defined media. Theriogenology 67, 293–302.Google Scholar
Lonergan, P, Carolan, C, Van Langendonckt, A, Donnay, I, Khatir, H, Mermillod, P 1996. Role of epidermal growth factor in bovine oocyte maturation and preimplantation embryo development in vitro. Biology of Reproduction 54, 1420–1429.Google Scholar
Makarevich, AV, Markkula, M 2002. Apoptosis and cell proliferation potential of bovine embryos stimulated with insulin-like growth factor I during in vitro maturation and culture. Biology of Reproduction 66, 386–392.Google Scholar
Mtango, NR, Varisanga, MD, Dong, YJ, Rajamahendran, R, Suzuki, T 2003. Growth factors and growth hormone enhance in vitro embryo production and post-thaw survival of vitrified bovine blastocysts. Theriogenology 59, 1393–1402.Google Scholar
Nagao, Y, Iijima, R, Saeki, K 2008. Interaction between embryos and culture conditions during in vitro development of bovine early embryos. Zygote 16, 127–133.Google Scholar
O'Doherty, EM, Wade, MG, Hill, JL, Boland, MP 1997. Effects of culturing bovine oocytes either singly or in groups on development to blastocysts. Theriogenology 48, 161–169.Google Scholar
O'Neill, C 1997. Evidence for the requirement of autocrine growth factors for development of mouse preimplantation embryos in vitro. Biology of Reproduction 56, 229–237.Google Scholar
Paria, BC, Dey, SK 1990. Preimplantation embryo development in vitro: cooperative interactions among embryos and role of growth factors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 87, 4756–4760.Google Scholar
Parrish, JJ, Susko-Parrish, J, Winer, MA, First, NL 1988. Capacitation of bovine sperm by heparin. Biology of Reproduction 38, 1171–1180.Google Scholar
Rizos, D, Burke, L, Duffy, P, Wade, M, Mee, JF, O'Farrell, KJ, Macsiurtain, M, Boland, MP, Lonergan, P 2005. Comparisons between nulliparous heifers and cows as oocyte donors for embryo production in vitro. Theriogenology 63, 939–949.Google Scholar
Rizos, D, Clemente, M, Bermejo-Alvarez, P, De La Fuente, J, Lonergan, P, Gutiérrez-Adán, A 2008. Consequences of in vitro culture conditions on embryo development and quality. Reproduction in Domestic Animals 43, 44–50.Google Scholar
Sakagami, N, Umeki, H, Nishino, O, Uchiyama, H, Ichikawa, K, Takeshita, K, Kaneko, E, Akiyama, K, Kobayashi, S, Tamada, H 2012. Normal calves produced after transfer of embryos cultured in a chemically defined medium supplemented with epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor I following ovum pick up and in vitro fertilization in Japanese black cows. Journal of Reproduction and Development 58, 140–146.Google Scholar
Salvador, I, Cebrian-Serrano, A, Salamone, D, Silvestre, MA 2011. Effect of number of oocytes and embryos on in vitro oocyte maturation, fertilization and embryo development in bovine. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 9, 744–752.Google Scholar
Schwarz, KR, Pires, PR, Adona, PR, Câmara de Bem, TH, Leal, CL 2008. Influence of nitric oxide during maturation on bovine oocyte meiosis and embryo development in vitro. Reproduction Fertility and Development 20, 529–536.Google Scholar
Shamsuddin, M 1994. Effect of growth factors on bovine blastocyst development in a serum-free medium. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 35, 141–147.Google Scholar
Sirisathien, S, Brackett, BG 2003. TUNEL analyses of bovine blastocysts after culture with EGF and IGF-I. Molecular Reproduction and Development 65, 51–56.Google Scholar
Sirisathien, S, Hernandez-Fonseca, HJ, Brackett, BG 2003. Influences of epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor-I on bovine blastocyst development in vitro. Animal Reproduction Science 77, 21–32.Google Scholar
Thouas, GA, Jones, GM, Trounson, AO 2003. The ‘GO’ system – a novel method of microculture for in vitro development of mouse zygotes to the blastocyst stage. Reproduction 126, 161–169.Google Scholar
Van Soom, A, Ysebaert, MT, De Kruif, A 1997. Relationship between timing of development, morula morphology, and cell allocation to inner cell mass and trophectoderm in in vitro-produced bovine embryos. Molecular Reproduction and Development 47, 47–56.Google Scholar
Van Soom, A, Yuan, YQ, Peelman, LJ, De Matos, DG, Dewulf, J, Laevens, H, De Kruif, A 2002. Prevalence of apoptosis and inner cell allocation in bovine embryos cultured under different oxygen tensions with or without cysteine addition. Theriogenology 57, 1453–1465.Google Scholar
Vandaele, L, Mateusen, B, Maes, D, de Kruif, A, Van Soom, A 2006. Is apoptosis in bovine in vitro produced embryos related to early developmental kinetics and in vivo bull fertility? Theriogenology 65, 1691–1703.Google Scholar
Vajta, G, Peura, T, Holm, P, Páldi, A, Greve, T, Trounson, AO, Callesen, H 2000. New method for culture of zona-included or zona-free embryos: the Well of the Well (WOW) system. Molecular Reproduction and Development 55, 256–264.Google Scholar
Zhou, P, Liu, DJ, Cang, M, Ma, YZ, Yang, DS, Li, HJ, Wang, LM, Bou, S, Feng, HL 2008. TGFα and EGFR in ovine preimplantation embryos and effects on development. Animal Reproduction Science 104, 370–381.Google Scholar