Effects Of Melatonin On In Vitro Growth Of Early Antral Follicles And Development Competence Of Parthenogenetic Porcine Embryos

Abstract

Melatonin as an antioxidant has been proven that it can reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and improve in vitro culture of porcine oocytes, however, the most effective doses of melatonin or how it can improve the quality of oocytes is not clearly understood. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of Melatonin on in vitro growth of early antral follicles and the developmental competence of parthenogenetic porcine embryos. The oocytes-cumulus complex derived from early antral follicles was cultured in in vitro growth (IVG) medium with Melatonin at four different concentrations (0µM, 1µM, 10µM, and 100µM). Then the quality of OGCs (morphology, survival rate, oocytes diameter), chromatin configuration, histone modification after IVG and meiotic competence after 42h of in vitro maturation (IVM) was evaluated. The optimal Melatonin concentration group with high meiotic competence then was parthenogenesis activation and cultured in vitro development (IVD) to examine the development competence of embryo. The survival rate after in vitro growth of the Melatonin 1µM group and 10µM group was higher than other groups with 90% and 88%, respectively. The ability of cumulus expansion was quite good in groups Me1 and Me10 after IVM, however, the maturation rate of the Me10 treatment was higher than the Me1 treatment (53.95±12.75, 60.14±3.78, respectively). The results revealed that Melatonin at a concentration of 10µM provides better conditions to improve the diameter, survival rate, cumulus expansion, support maturation, and increase development rate when compared to other treatments.