Soto-Heras Sandra, Roura Montserrat, Catalá Maria G, Menéndez-Blanco Irene, Izquierdo Dolors, Fouladi-Nashta Ali A, Paramio Maria T
Departament de Ciència Animal i dels Aliments, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Travessera dels Turons s/n, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
Reproduction Genes and Development Group, Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences, The Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, Hatfield, Herts AL97TA, UK.
Reprod Fertil Dev. 2018 Jan;30(2):253-261. doi: 10.1071/RD17170.
Melatonin is a universal antioxidant that improves in vitro embryo production in several species. The aims of this study were to determine the melatonin concentration in the ovarian follicular fluid (FF) of juvenile goats and the effect of melatonin during in vitro maturation (IVM) on embryo development. The FF melatonin concentration was 0.57--1.07×10-9 M, increasing with follicular diameter. Oocytes were matured, fertilised and cultured under conventional conditions. Blastocyst development, embryo quality and levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reduced glutathione were assessed. In Experiment 1 different melatonin concentrations (10-3, 10-7, 10-9, 10-11 M) were added to the IVM medium, which contained cysteamine as antioxidant, and no differences were observed. In Experiment 2, melatonin (10-7 M) was tested in the presence or absence of cysteamine (experimental groups: melatonin, cysteamine, melatonin+cysteamine, non-antioxidant). The melatonin group presented a higher blastocyst rate than the non-antioxidant group (28.9 vs 11.7%; P<0.01) and a higher total cell number than the cysteamine group (225.1 vs 129.0; P<0.05). Oocytes from the melatonin and cysteamine groups had lower ROS levels than those from the non-antioxidant group. This study shows that melatonin is an interesting tool for improving oocyte competence in juvenile goats as it increases embryo production and quality.
褪黑素是一种普遍存在的抗氧化剂，可改善多种物种的体外胚胎生产。本研究的目的是确定幼年山羊卵巢卵泡液（FF）中的褪黑素浓度，以及体外成熟（IVM）过程中褪黑素对胚胎发育的影响。FF中的褪黑素浓度为0.57--1.07×10-9 M，随卵泡直径增加。卵母细胞在常规条件下成熟、受精和培养。评估了囊胚发育、胚胎质量以及活性氧（ROS）和还原型谷胱甘肽水平。在实验1中，向含有半胱胺作为抗氧化剂的IVM培养基中添加了不同浓度的褪黑素（10-3、10-7、10-9、10-11 M），未观察到差异。在实验2中，在有或没有半胱胺的情况下测试了褪黑素（10-7 M）（实验组：褪黑素、半胱胺、褪黑素+半胱胺、非抗氧化剂）。褪黑素组的囊胚率高于非抗氧化剂组（28.9%对11.7%；P<0.01），总细胞数高于半胱胺组（225.1对129.0；P<0.05）。褪黑素组和半胱胺组的卵母细胞ROS水平低于非抗氧化剂组。本研究表明，褪黑素是提高幼年山羊卵母细胞能力的一种有趣工具，因为它可提高胚胎产量和质量。
