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Sugars are commonly supplemented into vitrification solution to dehydrate cells in order to reduce the formation of fatal intracellular ice crystals. Natural honey is a mixture of 25 sugars (mainly fructose and glucose) that have different biological and pharmacological benefits. The present study was designed to determine if honey can be used as a nonpermeating cryoprotectant in vitrification of bovine oocytes. In the first experiment, denuded-MII oocytes were exposed to 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0 M of honey or sucrose. Natural honey and sucrose caused similar ooplasm dehydration. A significant relationship existed between time and ooplasm volume change (P < 0.05), during dehydration and rehydration phases, in both honey and sucrose solutions. In the second experiment, the immature cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were vitrified in an EG/DMSO-based vitrification solution containing honey (0.5, 1 or 1.5 M) or sucrose (0.5 M) as a gold standard. The vitrified-warmed COCs were matured in vitro and evaluated for nuclear maturation. The maturation (MII) rate was greater in nonvitrified control (81%) than vitrified groups (54%, P < 0.05). In the third experiment, COCs were either remained nonvitrified (control) or vitrified in 1.0 M honey or 0.5 M sucrose, followed by IVM, IVF and IVC (for 9 days). Cleavage rate was greater in control (74%) than in vitrified groups (47%, P < 0.05), without significant difference between sugars. Blastocyst rate was 34, 13 and 3% in control, honey and sucrose groups respectively (P < 0.05). In conclusion, natural honey acted as a nonpermeating cryoprotectant in vitrification solution and improved the embryonic development in vitrified bovine COCs., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This study examines whether incorporating cholesterol-loaded methyl-β-cyclodextrin (CLC) in the bovine oocyte plasma membrane improves oocyte tolerance to vitrification. In vitro matured oocytes were incubated with 2 mg/ml BODIPY-labeled CLC for different time intervals in FCS or PVA supplemented medium or exposed to different CLC concentrations to examine the subcellular localization of cholesterol by confocal microscopy live-cell imaging. Subsequently, the effects of optimized CLC concentrations and incubation times prior to vitrification on early embryo development were assessed. Then, we evaluated the effects of pretreatment with 2 mg/ml CLC for 30 min before the vitrification of immature (GV) and in vitro matured (MII) oocytes on developmental competence and gene expression. Our results indicate a high plasma membrane labeling intensity after 30 min of incubation with 2 mg/ml CLC for 30 min, regardless of the holding medium used. When oocytes were incubated with 1 mg/ml, 2 mg/ml and 3 mg/ml of CLC, intense labeling was observed at the plasma membrane after 40, 30 and 20 min, respectively. CLC pre-treatment before the vitrification of bovine oocytes did not affect subsequent cleavage and embryo development rates irrespective of CLC concentrations, incubation times or meiotic stage. However, pretreatment seems to improve the quality of embryos derived from vitrified oocytes, mainly when oocytes were vitrified at the GV stage.

Two experiments were done to test the hypothesis that morphologic characteristics of wood bison cumulus-oocyte complexes (COC) are reflective of the ability of the oocyte to develop to an advanced embryonic stage after in vitro maturation, fertilization and culture, and to determine the effect of prolonging the interval from the end of superstimulation treatment to oocyte collection (FSH starvation period). Experiments were done during the anovulatory season. In Experiment 1, ovarian superstimulation was induced in 10 bison with two doses of FSH given at 48 h intervals beginning at the time of follicular wave emergence. COC were collected 3 days (72 h) after the last dose of FSH by follicular aspiration and classified as compact, expanded or denuded. The COC were matured in vitro for 24 h before fertilization in vitro (Day 0). Embryo development was assessed on Days 3, 7 and 8. The blastocyst rate was 7/34, 2/10 and 0/3 in COC classified as compact, expanded and denuded, respectively; however, only compact COC resulted in embryos that reached the expanded blastocyst stage. In Experiment 2, COC were collected at either 3 or 4 days (72 or 96 h) after the last dose of FSH (n = 16 bison/group) to determine the effect of the duration of FSH starvation on oocyte competence. The COC were classified as compact good (>3 layers of cumulus cells), compact regular (1-3 layers of cumulus cells), expanded or denuded, and then matured, fertilized and cultured in vitro. Although follicles were larger (P < 0.05) in the 4-day FSH starvation group, there was no effect of starvation period on the distribution of COC morphology; overall, 112/194 (57.7%) were compact, 29/194 (26.3%) were expanded, 39/194 (20.1%) were denuded, and 14/194 (7.2%) were degenerated (P < 0.05). Similarly, there was no effect of starvation period on embryo development. Compact good COC had the highest cleavage (88%) and blastocyst rates (54%; P < 0.05), followed by compact regular COC at 73% and 25%, respectively. Expanded and denuded COC had low cleavage (40% vs. 59%, respectively) and blastocyst rates (5% vs. 8%, respectively). We conclude that morphologic characteristics of wood bison COC are reflective of the ability of the oocyte to develop into an embryo in vitro. Importantly, oocytes collected from superstimulated bison during the anovulatory season were competent to develop to the blastocyst stage following in vitro maturation, fertilization and culture., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Experiments were conducted in wood bison to determine the effect of additional maturation time on embryo development of in vivo matured oocytes. In experiment 1, cumulus-oocyte complexes (COC) were collected 30 hours after hCG treatment in superstimulated wood bison, and expanded COC were fertilized immediately or after 4 hours of additional in vitro maturation. Embryo development was assessed on Days 3, 7, and 8 (Day 0 = day of fertilization). No difference in cleavage rate was detected (55.3% vs. 60.5%, P = 0.82), but the Day 8 blastocyst rate was higher after an additional 4 hours of in vitro maturation time (44.7 vs. 18.4%, P = 0.03). In experiment 2, COC were collected at either 30 hours or 34 hours after hCG treatment. Expanded COC from the 30 hours group were fertilized after 4 hours of in vitro maturation, whereas those from the 34 hours group were fertilized immediately. A higher cleavage rate (74.3 vs. 57.0%) and blastocyst rate (54.1 vs. 37.2%) were found in the 34 hours group versus the 30 hours group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, an additional short period of in vitro maturation, or an extended period of in vivo maturation are beneficial for in vitro embryo production in wood bison., (Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Experiments were done to compare the in vivo and in vitro maturational characteristics of cumulus-oocyte complexes (COC) collected from live wood bison. In Experiment 1 (anovulatory season), follicular ablation was done to synchronize follicle wave emergence among bison on Day -1, and FSH was given on Days 0 and 2. Bison were then assigned to 5 groups (n=5/group) in which COC were collected by transvaginal follicle aspiration on Day 4 and either fixed immediately with no maturation (control), matured in vitro for 24 or 30h, or collected on Day 5 after in vivo maturation for 24 or 30h (i.e., after hCG treatment). In Experiment 2 (ovulatory season), bison were treated as described for Experiment 1, but PGF2α (cloprostenol) was given to control the luteal phase on Days -9 and 3. In both experiments, cumulus cell expansion was more extensive following in vivo than in vitro maturation, and the percentage of fully expanded COC was highest in the in vivo 30h groups. Nuclear maturation occurred more rapidly in vitro; 60-70% of oocytes were at the MII stage 24h after in vitro maturation while only 25-27% of oocytes had reached the MII stage after 24h of in vivo maturation. In conclusion, nuclear maturation occurred more rapidly during in vitro vs. in vivo maturation, but was associated with less cumulus expansion than in vivo maturation. In vivo oocyte maturation was more complete at 30 vs. 24h after hCG treatment. Season had no effect on the maturational capacity of wood bison oocytes., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Vitrification of bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) is not as successful as bovine embryos, due to oocyte's complex structure and chilling sensitivity. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction (SXRD), a powerful method to study crystal structure and phase changes, was used to detect the glass or ice formation in water, tissue culture medium (TCM)-199, vitrification solution 2 (VS2), and vitrified bovine COCs and morulae. Data revealed Debye's rings and peaks associated with the hexagonal ice crystals at 3.897, 3.635, 3.427, 2.610, 2.241, 1.912 and 1.878 Å in both water and TCM-199, whereas VS2 showed amorphous (glassy) appearance, at 102K (-171°C). An additional peak of sodium phosphate monobasic hydrate (NaH2PO4.H2O) crystals was observed at 2.064 Å in TCM-199 only. All ice and NaH2PO4.H2O peaks were detected in the non-vitrified (control) and vitrified COCs, except two ice peaks (3.145 and 2.655 Å) were absent in the vitrified COCs. The intensities of majority of ice peaks did not differ between the non-vitrified and vitrified COCs. The non-vitrified bovine morulae in TCM-199 demonstrated all ice- and NaH2PO4.H2O-associated Debye's rings and peaks, found in TCM-199 alone. There was no Debye's ring present in the vitrified morulae. In conclusion, SXRD is a powerful method to confirm the vitrifiability of a solution and to detect the glass or ice formation in vitrified cells and tissues. The vitrified bovine COCs exhibited the hexagonal ice crystals instead of glass formation whereas the bovine morulae underwent a typical vitrification.

Background: The present studies evaluated the effects of cryoprotectants, the vitrification procedure and time in the warming solution containing sucrose on cleavage and embryo development of immature (GV stage) bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs)., Methods: Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, COCs (n = 420) were randomly assigned to four groups: 1) CONTROL GROUP: no treatment; 2) VS1 group: COCs were exposed to vitrification solution 1 (VS1) containing 7.5% ethylene glycol [EG] + 7.5% dimethyl sulfoxide [DMSO] + 20% calf serum [CS] in TCM-199 at 37 C for 5 min; 3) VS1 + VS2 group: COCs were exposed to VS1 for 5 min followed by VS2 (15% EG + 15% DMSO + 17.1% sucrose + 20% CS) at 37 C for 45-60 sec; and 4) Vitrified group: COCs were exposed to VS1 and VS2, loaded on cryotops, vitrified in liquid nitrogen and then warmed in TCM-199 + 17.1% sucrose + 20% CS at 37 C for 1 min. In Experiment 2, COCs (n = 581) were assigned to the same groups, but those in VS1, VS1 + VS2 and Vitrified groups were sub-divided and exposed to the warming solution for either 1 or 5 min. After treatment and/or warming, all COCs in both experiments underwent in vitro maturation, in vitro fertilization and in vitro culture., Results: Cleavage and blastocyst rates did not differ among Control, VS1 and VS1 + VS2 groups in either experiment. In Experiment 2, there was no effect of time in the warming solution.However, both cleavage and blastocyst rates were lower (P < 0.001) in the Vitrified group than in the Control, VS1 and VS1 + VS2 groups (40.9 and 1.6% vs 92.2 and 34.4%, 79.4 and 25.2%, and 80.2 and 20.8%, respectively in Experiment 1, and 25.0 and 1.7% vs 75.3 and 27.2%, 67.9 and 19.5%, and 62.7 and 22.5%, respectively in Experiment 2)., Conclusions: The permeating cryoprotectants (EG and DMSO) present in VS1 and VS2 solutions and the time in the warming solution containing sucrose had no adverse effects on cleavage and blastocyst rates of immature bovine COCs. However, cleavage rate and early embryo development were reduced following the vitrification and warming.