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Selenium (Se) and vitamin E (Vit-E), as integral parts of antioxidant systems, play important roles for sperm and embryos in vitro. In this study, the effects of Se and Vit-E on the maturation, in vitro fertilization and culture to blastocysts of porcine oocytes and accumulation of ammonia in the culture medium during different development stages were investigated. The maturation was performed in modified tissue culture medium (mTCM)-199 supplemented with 10% (v/v) porcine follicular fluid, the fertilization medium was modified Tyrode's albumin lactate pyruvate (mTALP), and the embryo culture medium was modified North Carolina State University (mNCSU)-23. Se in the form of sodium selenite (SS) and seleon-L-methionine (SeMet) and Vit-E at different concentrations were also used. The incorporation and oxidation of (14)C(U)-glucose were assessed with a liquid scintillation counter. In this study, SeMet and SeMet+Vit-E increased oocyte maturation, fertilization and incorporation and oxidation of (14)C(U)-glucose significantly (P

Relaxin is a peptide hormone found in seminal plasma that has a physiological influence on sperm motility in some species. There are no reports on the effect of relaxin on acrosome reaction and utilization of glucose in boar spermatozoa. In this study, to investigate the effects of relaxin on sperm motility, acrosome reaction, and incorporation and oxidation of labeled glucose, boar spermatozoa were washed and preincubated for swim-up and then incubated (0-6 h) with 0, 20, or 40 ng/ml relaxin in mTALP medium. The results indicated that the addition of relaxin stimulated sperm motility significantly (P