Melatonin exists in porcine follicular fluid and improves in vitro maturation and parthenogenetic development of porcine oocytes.
This study focused on the effect of melatonin on in vitro maturation of porcine oocytes and their parthenogenetic embryonic development. Melatonin was measured in porcine follicular fluid of follicles of different sizes in the same ovary. Melatonin exists in follicular fluid, and the concentration is approximately 10(-11) m. Its concentration decreased as the diameter of follicle increased, which suggests an effect of melatonin on oocyte maturation. Therefore, immature oocytes were cultured in vitro in maturation medium supplemented with melatonin (10(-11), 10(-9), 10(-7), 10(-5) and 10(-3) m) or without melatonin. The oocytes at maturation stage were collected and activated. The parthenogenetic embryos were cultured and observed in medium supplemented with or without melatonin. Fresh immature oocytes without melatonin treatment were used as control. When only maturation medium was supplemented with 10(-9) m melatonin, the cleavage rate, blastocyst rate and the cell number of blastocyst (70 +/- 4.5%, 28 +/- 2.4% and 50 +/- 6.5%) were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of controls; when only culture medium was supplemented with melatonin, the highest cleavage rate, blastocyst rate and the cell number of blastocyst was observed at 10(-7) m melatonin, which were significantly higher than that of controls (P < 0.05). The best results (cleavage rates 79 +/- 8.4%, blastocyst rates 35 +/- 6.7%) were obtained when both the maturation and culture medium were supplemented with 10(-9) m melatonin respectively (P < 0.05). In conclusion, exogenous melatonin at the proper concentration may improve the in vitro maturation of porcine oocytes and their parthenogenetic embryonic development. Further research is needed to identify the effect of melatonin on in vitro and in vivo oocyte maturation and embryo development in porcine.
Shi
Jian-Min
JM
Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
Tian
Xiu-Zhi
XZ
Zhou
Guang-Bin
GB
Wang
Liang
L
Gao
Chao
C
Zhu
Shi-En
SE
Zeng
Shen-Ming
SM
Tian
Jian-Hui
JH
Liu
Guo-Shi
GS
D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D015571:Follicular Fluid / Q000378:metabolism*; D008550:Melatonin / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D013552:Swine
D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D008550:Melatonin