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Vertebrate reproductive science and technology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Cysteamine supplementation of in vitro maturation medium, in vitro culture medium or both media promotes in vitro development of buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) embryos

T. Anand A , D. Kumar A , M. S. Chauhan A , R. S. Manik A and P. Palta A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Animal Biotechnology Centre, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132 001, India.

B Corresponding author. Email: prabhatpalta@yahoo.com

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 20(2) 253-257 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD07167
Submitted: 21 September 2007  Accepted: 15 November 2007   Published: 4 January 2008

Abstract

The effects of supplementation of in vitro maturation (IVM) or in vitro culture (IVC) or both IVM and IVC media with cysteamine on the yield, hatching rate (HR) and total cell number (TCN) of buffalo blastocysts were examined. Oocytes obtained from slaughterhouse buffalo ovaries were subjected to IVM and IVF. The IVM or IVC media were supplemented with 0, 50, 100 or 200 µm cysteamine. Supplementation of IVM medium with 50 µm cysteamine increased (P < 0.01) the cleavage rate and blastocyst yield without affecting the HR and TCN whereas a higher concentration of 200 µm significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the blastocyst yield but not TCN. Similar increases in blastocyst yield, without any effect on HR and TCN were observed after supplementation of the IVC medium with 100 (P < 0.01) or 50 µm (P < 0.05) cysteamine, whereas 200 µm cysteamine was ineffective. Supplementation of both IVM medium with 50 µm cysteamine and of IVC medium with 100 µm cysteamine increased the yield of blastocysts and hatched blastocyst by over 100% (P < 0.01) compared with the controls without any adverse effects on HR or TCN. The results of the present study suggest that supplementation of both IVM and IVC media improves the yield of blastocysts without compromising their health.

Additional keyword: in vitro fertilisation.


Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India.


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