EFFECT OF ANTIOXIDANT SUPPLEMENTATION IN CHROMATIN MORPHOLOGY OF GROWING PORCINE OOCYTE DERIVED FROM EARLY ANTRAL FOLLICLES

Abstract

The porcine oocytes derived from early antral follicles in in-vitro culture are affected by multiple factors, resulting in low meiotic competence development rates. Thus, the culture medium should be treated with antioxidant supplementations to enhance the oocytes' survival rate and improve the competence development stage of the oocytes derived from early antral follicles. Astaxanthin and Ascorbic Acid are two supplements suggested to be used in this research. These two chemicals have been previously studied for IVM medium (Mozafar Khazaei et al., 2017). However, there have been limited studies on the effects of astaxanthin and ascorbic acid on the maturation of porcine oocytes derived from early antral follicles and their chromatin morphology. This study aims to examine the optimal concentration of Astaxanthin and Ascorbic Acid to improve the development of meiotic competence of early antral follicles during IVG and IVM processes. Different concentrations of 2 antioxidants (Astaxanthin 0.1, 0.25, 0.5g/L, Ascorbic Acid 25, 50, 75 g) were added into the IVG medium to determine the optimal concentration for the development of oocytes derived from 1-1.5mm porcine follicles. The oocytes-cumulus granulose cell complex (OCGCs) were collected and cultured with Astaxanthin or Ascorbic Acid for the first 2 days of 4 days of IVG culture. The results show that Astaxanthin or Ascorbic Acid has 1 concentration (respectively) that higher among 3 concentrations of each chemical (Ast 0.5M and AsA 50g). The chromatin morphology shows that it could enhance the meiotic competence of the oocytes from early antral follicles