61 EFFECT OF ROOM TEMPERATURE HOLDING PROCEDURE ON ABILITY OF OOCYTES TO MATURE AND DEVELOP IN VITRO AFTER EQUINE SOMATIC CELL NUCLEAR TRANSFER

In Korea, it takes time to transport the ovaries of mares to the laboratory because horses are slaughtered only on Jeju island. Also, initiation of in vitro maturation (IVM) may be a little more delayed because of the oocyte collection by scraping of the follicular wall. It was reported that holding procedure of equine oocytes before IVM did not affect the developmental competence after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (Choi et al. 2006 Theriogenology 66, 955–963). The aims of present study were 1) to investigate the meiotic competence of equine oocytes held before IVM according to the type of oocytes, and 2) to examine the in vitro development after somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) were recovered by scraping and washing of the follicular wall with Dulbecco’s modified Eagle medium (D-MEM) supplemented with 0.05% PVA, and classified as compact (Cp) or expended (Ex) depending on the expansion of cumulus or granulosa cells. 2 types of IVM procedures were compared: 1) COCs were matured immediately in IVM medium (TCM-199 supplemented with 5 mU mL–1 FSH, 50 ng mL–1 EGF, and 10% FBS) at 38.5°C under 5% CO2 in air for 24 to 27 h, and then held in holding medium (40% TCM-199 with Earle’s salts, 40% TCM-199 with Hanks’ salts, and 20% FBS) at room temperature for 6 to 7 h (control); or 2) COCs were initially held in holding medium for 6 to 7 h, and then matured in IVM medium for 24 to 27 h (holding). For SCNT, matured oocytes (pooled) were enucleated and electrically fused with equine skin fibroblasts (2.25 kV cm–1, 20 µs, 2 pulses). Fused couplets were activated with 5 µM ionomycin for 4 min followed by 5 h culture in 2 mM 6-DMAP, and cultured in D-MEM supplemented with 10% FBS and 50 ng mL–1 EGF at 38.5°C under 5% CO2, 5% O2, and 90% N2 for 7 to 9 days. Cleavage and blastocyst formation were evaluated on Days 2 and 8, respectively. All analyses were performed using SAS (version 9.1; SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). 4 replicates were conducted from May to June 2010. In Ex oocytes, the maturation rate of the holding group (71.4%; 10/16) was not different from that of the control (65.6%; 44/73), and the rate of degenerated oocytes (4.8%; 1/16) in the holding group was not different from that in the control (5.6%; 5/73). However, in Cp oocytes, the degeneration rate of the holding group (65.0%; 31/49) was higher (P < 0.001) than that of the control (28.4%; 23/83), and the maturation rate of the holding group (20.6%; 12/49) was slightly lower (P = 0.07) than that of the control (46.0%; 38/83). After SCNT, the cleavage rate of the holding group (66.7%; 8/9) was not different from that of the control (60.8%; 14/25), and the rates of blastocyst formation of the control and the holding group were 8.1% (2/25) and 16.7% (2/9), respectively. Although the holding procedure may influence to the degeneration of Cp oocytes, it is considered that the developmental competence of equine oocytes held before IVM is not affected after SCNT.