title: Stimulatory effects of insulin on the development of bovine embryos fertilized in vitro.
abstract: To obtain information about the effects of insulin on the development of bovine embryos, fertilized bovine embryos in vitro were cultured in a chemically defined, protein-free medium: modified synthetic oviduct fluid (mSOF) supplemented with 1 mg/ml polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The percentage of embryos reaching the morula stage was not affected by the addition of 5 micrograms/ml insulin alone, but insulin showed a beneficial synergistic effect with amino acids (AAs) on the embryonic development to morula. Supplementation of insulin (1-100 micrograms/ml) with mSOF+AAs did not improve the percentage of embryos developing to the blastocyst stage. However, a significant increase in cell numbers of blastocysts was observed with the addition of 1 mM glucose and 1 or 10 micrograms/ml insulin from the morula stage. These results show that insulin has a beneficial effect on the preimplantation development of bovine embryos in the presence of AAs and/or glucose, and suggest that insulin improves embryonic development by stimulating AAs transport and/or glucose uptake.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D002417:Cattle; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000187:drug effects / Q000662:veterinary*; D007328:Insulin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009028:Morula / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D010053:Ovary
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin