303 EFFECT OF SERUM SUPPLEMENTATION AND ESTRUS CYCLE STAGE ON IN VITRO NUCLEAR MATURATION OF CANINE OOCYTES
Authors: Heru F.Y. , Oh H.J. , Kim M.K. , Goo J. , Hossein M.S. , Kim H.J. , Kang S.K.n , Lee B.C. , Hwang W.S. 
Published: December 2004

The present study investigated the effects of the estrus cycle stage and serum supplementation on nuclear maturation of canine oocytes. Ovaries were collected from a private clinic after ovariohysterectomy and classified into follicular, luteal, or anestrus stages through a combination of ovarian morphology and vaginal cytology. A total of 2214 oocytes from 196 ovaries (903 oocytes from 96 anestrus ovaries, 609 oocytes from 36 follicular ovaries, and 702 oocytes from 64 luteal ovaries) were used for experiments. The oocyte retrieval per ovary was 10, 19, and 12 for anestrus, follicular and luteal-phase ovaries, respectively. In Exp. 1, immature oocytes were cultured for 72 h in TCM-199 alone or TCM-199 supplemented with 10% canine anestrus (CAS), estrus (CES), or diestrus (CDS) serum or fetal bovine serum (FBS). In Exp. 2, immature oocytes were cultured for 72 h in TCM-199 supplemented with 0, 5, 10, or 20% CES. After staining with Hoechst 33342, chromatin state and position as well as spindle formation were evaluated to determine the stage of meiosis: germinal vesicle (GV) stage, germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), metaphase I (MI) stage, metaphase II (MII) stage. The experiments with anestrus and luteal-phase oocytes were repeated eight times and follicular-phase oocytes were repeated six times. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and protected least significant difference (LSD) test to determine differences among experimental groups by using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS, SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC, USA) program. Statistical significance was determined where P value was less than 0.05. In Exp. 1, the in vitro maturation of oocytes up to MII stage was higher when oocytes were collected from ovaries in follicular phase. The maturation rate up to MII stage was 0.0 to 1.7%, 1.3 to 10.2%, and 1.0 to 3.2% for the oocytes collected from the anestrus, follicular, and luteal-phase ovaries, respectively, depending on the culture media used. In basic TCM media only, 0.0, 1.3, and 2.3% oocytes reached the MII stage for anestrus, follicular, and luteal-phase oocytes, respectively. A significantly higher rate of maturation was obtained when oocytes collected from follicular phase were cultured in TCM-199 supplemented with 10% CES (10.2%), compared to 10% CAS (4.0%), CDS (2.7%), FBS (1.3%), or the control (1.3%). In Exp. 2, supplementing with 10% CES induced the highest (P < 0.05) maturation rate to the MII stage in oocytes collected from follicular-stage ovaries (11.5%) compared to supplementing with 0% (1.0%), 5% (1.3%), or 20% CES (5.1%). Supplementing with CES (5, 10, or 20%) did not have a significant effect on nuclear maturation of canine oocytes collected from anestrus or luteal-stage ovaries. In conclusion, supplementing in vitro maturation medium with 10% CES increased nuclear maturation of canine oocytes, and canine oocytes collected from follicular-stage ovaries are the most suitable to complete nuclear maturation in vitro.
This study was supported by grants from the Biogreen 21-1000520030100000.