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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Temporal effects of exogenous oocyte-secreted factors on bovine oocyte developmental competence during IVM

Tamer S. Hussein A , Melanie L. Sutton-McDowall A , Robert B. Gilchrist A B and Jeremy G. Thompson A B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Robinson Institute, Research Centre for Reproductive Health, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.

B Joint last authors.

C Corresponding author. Email: jeremy.thompson@adelaide.edu.au

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 23(4) 576-584 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD10323
Submitted: 29 November 2010  Accepted: 16 December 2010   Published: 3 May 2011

Abstract

We investigated whether paracrine signalling between the bovine oocyte and cumulus cells is altered during the course of in vitro maturation (IVM). Bovine COCs were cocultured with denuded oocytes or treated with specific oocyte-secreted factors, namely recombinant bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-15 or growth differentiation factor (GDF)-9, beginning from 0 or 9 h IVM. To generate a 9-h denuded oocyte (DO) group, COCs were cultured intact for the first 9 h of IVM and then denuded. Coculturing intact COCs with DOs denuded immediately after collection or following 9 h of maturation did not affect cleavage rate, but improved blastocyst yield (P < 0.05) on Day 8 (51 and 61%, respectively; P < 0.05) and cell number compared with COCs cultured alone (41%). Significantly, we observed higher levels of endogenous GDF-9 and BMP-15 protein in oocytes of COCs matured for 9 h compared with no incubation. The addition of 175 ng mL–1 GDF-9 or 10% v/v BMP-15 from partially purified transfected 293H cell supernatant for 24 h IVM significantly enhanced development to the blastocyst stage from 40% (control) to 51 and 47%, respectively (P < 0.05). However, treatment of COCs with GDF-9 or BMP-15 between 9 and 24 h of IVM did not increase blastocyst yield. These results provide evidence of quantitative and possibly qualitative temporal changes in oocyte paracrine factor production during IVM.

Additional keywords: bone morphogenetic proteins, cumulus–oocyte complex, growth differentiation factors.


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