Microtubule assembly crucial to bovine embryonic development in assisted reproductive technologies

Centrosome integrity and microtubule network are crucial to the events around fertilization, including pronuclear development, migration and fusion, and the first mitotic division. The present review highlights the importance of bull spermatozoal centrosomes to function as a microtubule‐organizing center for successful fertilization and the subsequent embryonic development. Spermatozoal centrosomes need to be blended with ooplasmic pericentriolar materials accurately to nucleate and organize the sperm aster. Dysfunction of the spermatozoal centrosomes is associated with fertilization failure, which has been overcome with supplemental stimuli for oocyte activation following intracytoplasmic sperm injection in humans. Even though the spermatozoal centrosomes are functionally intact, abnormal sperm aster formation was frequently observed in vitrified‐warmed bovine oocytes, with delayed pronuclear development and migration. Treatment of the post‐warm oocytes with Rho‐associated coiled‐coil kinase inhibitor or α‐tocopherol inhibited the incidence of the abnormal aster formation, resulting in higher blastocyst yields following in vitro fertilization and culture. Thus, understanding of centrosomal function made it possible to improve the performance of advanced reproductive technologies.     

新鲜、玻璃化冷冻牛卵母细胞体外受精囊胚全基因组甲基化模式初探

旨在初步分析新鲜及玻璃化冷冻牛卵母细胞体外受精囊胚全基因组甲基化模式。本研究采用单细胞全基因组甲基化测序技术(scWGMS)检测新鲜、玻璃化冷冻牛卵母细胞体外受精囊胚全基因组甲基化水平和差异甲基化区域(DMR),探讨两者之间DNA甲基化水平上的差异。结果表明,新鲜卵母细胞体外受精囊胚的整体甲基化水平显著高于玻璃化冷冻卵母细胞体外受精囊胚的整体甲基化水平(P<0.05)。采用基因本体分析(GO)和相关信号通路(KEGG)对143个DMRs分析,发现生物学过程主要显著富集在新陈代谢、生长发育、细胞定位、细胞刺激反应等,通路主要富集在生长发育、核酸结合及组蛋白乙酰化上,并筛选出几个与之相关的候选基因(FARP2、PI4KA、FAM3D、NCOR2、ZNF827等)。本研究初步发现,玻璃化冷冻牛卵母细胞体外受精囊胚的全基因组甲基化水平显著降低,且DMR区域主要集中在ATP结合、生长发育及组蛋白乙酰化,为提高玻璃化冷冻卵母细胞体外受精囊胚质量提供信息参考。     

A single injection of corifollitropin alfa supplemented with human chorionic gonadotropin increases follicular recruitment and transferable embryos in the rabbit

Superovulation protocols are designed to achieve maximum embryo yields. Nevertheless, ovarian response control and the quality of obtained embryos are still a challenge. On the other hand, to save the superovulated embryos until their subsequent use, it is usual to cryopreserve them, so it is also crucial to assess their cryotolerance. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of a single injection of corifollitropin alfa (FSH‐CTP) alone or supplemented with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and to determine the impact of this stimulation on in vitro and in vivo development of fresh or devitrified embryos. Our outcomes showed that ovulation rate and recovered embryos were significantly increased when hCG was used. In vitro development of fresh and devitrified embryos and survival at birth were not significantly affected by superstimulation treatment. Results of this study suggest that a single injection of long‐acting FSH‐CTP supplemented with hCG can be effectively used in rabbits to elicit an increase in ovulation rate and number of recovered embryos. Furthermore, we demonstrated that hCG supplementation had no negative effects in embryo cryosurvival and development, showing similar survival rate at birth than FSH‐CTP alone group.     

Achievements and future perspectives of embryo transfer technology in pigs

Commercial embryo transfer (ET) has unprecedented productive and economic implications for the pig sector. However, pig ET has been considered utopian for decades mainly because of the requirements of surgical techniques for embryo collection and embryo deposition into recipients, alongside challenges to preserve embryos. This situation has drastically changed in the last decade since the current technology allows non‐surgical ET and short‐ and long‐term embryo preservation. Here, we provide a brief review of the improvements in porcine ET achieved by our laboratory in the past 20 years. This review includes several aspects of non‐surgical ET technology and different issues affecting ET programmes and embryo preservation systems. The future perspectives of ET technology are also considered. We will refer only to embryos produced in vivo since they are the only type of embryos with possible short‐term use in pig production.     

Vitrification of bovine matured oocytes and blastocysts in a paper container

In the present study, we aimed to determine the applicability of a paper container for the vitrification of in vitro matured (IVM) bovine oocytes. In experiment 1, IVM oocytes were exposed to vitrification solution (20% dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), 20% ethylene glycol (EG), and 5 mol/L sucrose), using a two‐step method, for 30 s; loaded onto either a paper container or Cryotop; and stored in liquid nitrogen. No significant difference (P < 0.05) in the survival and blastocyst formation rates after in vitro vitrification was observed between the paper container and Cryotop. In experiment 2, IVM oocytes were exposed to either a two‐ or three‐step vitrification solution. The three‐step vitrification solution was not significantly different from the two‐step solution in terms of oocyte survival, cleavage and blastocyst rates. In experiment 3, in vitro produced blastocysts were graded according to the manual of the International Embryo Transfer Society (grades 1 and 2) and vitrified using the two‐ and three‐step methods. For grade 2 blastocysts, the three‐step method showed significantly higher (P < 0.05) survival and hatched blastocyst rates than the two‐step method, whereas for grade 1 blastocysts, no significant difference was observed. In conclusion, the paper device and three‐step technique are suitable for oocytes and embryo vitrification.     

Vitrification for bovine embryos with low‐quality grade

This study was conducted to examine the utility of vitrification for bovine embryos with low‐quality grade, and simple cryoprotectants dilution method for practitioners. In Experiment 1, survival of frozen embryos was compared with that of vitrified embryos using minimum volume cooling (MVC). Then, vitrified embryos were used to confirm the optimum sucrose concentration in Experiment 2. The survival rates of embryos that had been vitrified following diluted cryoprotectants with the one‐step in‐straw method were compared with those of fresh control embryos in Experiment 3. Frozen‐thawed or vitrified‐warmed blastocysts were cultured with TCM‐199 supplemented with 100 μmol/L beta‐mercaptoethanol +5% fetal bovine serum at 38.5°C in an atmosphere of 5% CO₂ in air, their survival after 24 hr were compared. The development to term of fair quality in vivo embryos after vitrification was examined in Experiment 4. Results show that survival rates of frozen‐thawed embryos were lower (p < .05) than that of vitrified‐warmed ones. When vitrified embryos were warmed in 0.3 mol/L sucrose in straws, their survival rate was 100%. The total cell numbers of vitrified‐warmed embryos were comparable to those of fresh control embryos. The six calves from 13 vitrified embryos were delivered in Experiment 4. These results indicate that MVC vitrification following one‐step cryoprotectants dilution is utilized to preserve low‐quality bovine embryos.     

聚乙烯醇在大樱桃砧木吉塞拉组织培养中的作用

以樱桃砧木吉塞拉为试材,研究了不同质量浓度聚乙烯醇(PVA)对樱桃砧木吉塞拉组织培养不同阶段的影响。结果表明,1 g/L的聚乙烯醇可有效提高吉塞拉丛生芽的诱导率,2 g/L的聚乙烯醇不但可以降低其玻璃化率、提高其分化数量,还可以提高其移栽成活率。因此,聚乙烯醇在吉塞拉砧木的初代诱导、继代增殖和生根培养中均有良好的促进作用。     

玻璃化冷冻对猪体外成熟卵母细胞染色体与纺锤体的影响

通过冷冻体外培养成熟的猪MⅡ卵母细胞,分析了不同冷冻方案对卵母细胞形态、纺锤体微管和染色体形态结构影响,探讨冷冻前后猪卵母细胞超微结构的变化,以及玻璃化冷冻对卵母细胞后续发育能力的影响。