164 EFFECTS OF CUMULUS CELLS AND PITUITARY HORMONES ON AGE-ASSOCIATED CELLULAR CHANGES DURING THE PROLONGED CULTURE OF BOVINE OOCYTES

Abstract

In vivo and in vitro aging of mature mammalian oocytes heavily reduces their quality and developmental capacity. Therefore, the knowledge of physiological factors modulating the speed of oocyte aging is of great importance for successful reproduction. The goal of the present research was to study effects of cumulus cells (CC) and two related pituitary hormones, prolactin (PRL) and growth hormone (GH), on the dynamics of age-associated cellular changes during the prolonged culture of bovine oocytes in vitro. Bovine cumulus–oocyte complexes (COC) were cultured for 20 h in the following maturation medium: TCM 199 containing 10% fetal calf serum, 10 μg mL^–1 porcine FSH, and 5 μg mL^–1 ovine LH. After IVM, COC were transferred to the aging medium consisting of TCM-199 supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum and cultured for 0, 12, 24, or 36 h in the absence (Control) or presence of 50 ng mL^–1 bovine PRL (Research Center for Endocrinology, Moscow, Russia) or 10 ng mL^–1 recombinant bovine GH (Monsanto, St. Louis, MO, USA). A portion of in vitro-matured oocytes were denuded of their CC and cultured in the control aging medium. At the end of culture, the state of the nuclear material in oocytes and embryos was evaluated by Tarkowski's cytogenetic method. The number of oocytes undergoing spontaneous parthenogenetic activation in the respective groups was determined by summarising the numbers of embryos cleaved and oocytes reaching anaphase-II to telophase-II stages or containing a pronucleus. Destructive changes in CC were assessed using the morphological signs of apoptosis. The data from 3 to 5 replicates were analysed by ANOVA. In the control group of COC, a rise in the rate of metaphase-II (M-II) oocytes with abnormal chromosome configurations occurred by 12 h of aging [31.8 ± 4.6% (12 h) v. 17.5 ± 2.6% (0 h); P < 0.05] and persisted up to 36 h (70.4 ± 2.0%; P < 0.001). At the same time, the frequency of oocyte parthenogenetic activation markedly increased only between 0 and 36 h of aging (from 0% to 20.7 ± 3.4%; P < 0.001). The addition of PRL or GH to the aging medium or removal of CCs resulted in a decline in the rate of M-II oocytes with degenerative changes of chromosomes throughout the culture period (at least P < 0.05). Furthermore, PRL and GH reduced the frequency of the oocyte activation at 36 h of the prolonged culture (up to 5.4 ± 2.5 and 1.7 ± 1.7%, respectively; P < 0.01), although CC did not influence meiotic arrest at M-II. Meanwhile, the rate of degenerated CC steadily increased as the culture time increased from 0 h (10.3 ± 1.1%) to 36 h (22.7 ± 2.2%; P < 0.001) and was unaffected by both hormones. The data suggest that, in bovine COC, CC accelerate abnormal changes in the chromosomal structure of aging M-II oocytes, whereas PRL and GH may decelerate these changes and support meiotic arrest during the prolonged culture of in vitro-matured oocytes.

This research was partially supported by RFBR (project no. 13-04-01888).