85 LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT METABOLITES IN BOVINE IN VITRO PRODUCTION CULTURE MEDIA AS EMBRYO QUALITY MARKERS
M. Nõmm A , E. Mark A , K. Kilk B , S. Kõks A B and Ü. Jaakma A BA Estonian University of Lifesciences, Tartu, Estonia;
B University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia;
C Competence Centre on Reproductive Medicine and Biology, Tartu, Estonia
Reproduction, Fertility and Development 27(1) 135-136 https://doi.org/10.1071/RDv27n1Ab85
Published: 4 December 2014
Abstract
The need for noninvasive embryo quality assessment techniques has increased as the in vitro production of cattle embryos has become more popular and necessary in the beef and milk production industries. In this study, we assessed the metabolomic profile of embryo culture media to determine whether it is possible to evaluate differences in low-molecular-weight metabolites in the culture media composition of morula stage embryos compared with embryos that develop to the blastocyst stage. Single bovine embryos were cultured in 60-µL SOF+0.4% BSA droplets under mineral oil. Twenty microliters of culture media was removed at Day 2, 5, and 8 post-fertilization. Cultured droplets without a zygote served as the control samples. A total of 42 samples were analysed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (Q-Trap 3200, Ab Sciex, Framingham, MA, USA), followed by principal component analysis. Our preliminary results indicated significant differences (P < 0.00001) in 10 low-molecular-weight compounds between the groups. Three of those compounds (588, 589, and 702 Da) were represented in higher concentrations only in embryos that advanced into the blastocyst stage. These first results could allow the identification of embryos with improved viability and give better understanding of the development of pre-implantation embryo.
This study was supported by CCRMB, Project ANIREP (3.2.0701.12–0036) and institutional grant IUT8–1.
