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Follistatin Rescues Blastocyst Development of Poor Quality Porcine Cumulus-Oocyte Complexes by Delaying Meiotic Resumption With Decreased cGMP

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Abstract

Mammalian oocytes resume maturation when removed from follicles and cultured in vitro. During folliculogenesis, oocytes are bathed in follicular fluid (FF), which provides an important and specialized microenvironment for oocyte competence. Follistatin (FST) is one component of FF that may play a role in oocyte maturation and embryo development. This study was conducted to examine possible effects of FST on porcine oocyte competence and embryo development. Exogenous FST in oocyte maturation medium for 22 or 44 hours did not improve nuclear maturation and had no effect on good quality cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs). However, FST improved blastocyst rates in embryos derived from oocytes with less than 2 layers of cumulus. Follistatin treatment of the poor quality COC group increased transcript levels for genes indicative of oocyte quality. Transcript levels were also altered for cumulus expansion-related genes in response to FST when measured during the germinal vesicle breakdown stage. Interestingly, high-quality oocytes remained at germinal vesicle stage much longer than low-quality oocytes, FST treatment induced temporary blockage of spontaneous meiotic resumption when added during culture of both good and poor quality COCs, and levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) were higher in FST-treated versus untreated groups for both good and poor quality oocytes. In conclusion, FST treatment of porcine oocytes during in vitro maturation can rescue competency of poor quality oocytes to develop to blastocyst stage following in vitro fertilization. Beneficial effects of addition of FST to culture medium may be mediated by inhibiting degradation of cGMP and temporarily delaying nuclear maturation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro (st), Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-764, Republic of Korea

    Bo Myeong Lee MSc, Ju Lan Chun PhD, Ji Hye Lee PhD, Eun Young Kim PhD, Kang-sun Park MSc, Jin-Hee Lee MS & Min Kyu Kim PhD

  2. Laboratory of Mammalian Reproductive Biology and Genomics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Bradford W. Daigneault PhD & George W. Smith PhD

  3. Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Bradford W. Daigneault PhD & George W. Smith PhD

  4. Department of Physiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    George W. Smith PhD

  5. Chungnam Livestock Research Institute, Cheongyang-Gun, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea

    Keun Jung Kim PhD

  6. Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), National Primate Research Center (NPRC), Ochang, Chungcheongbuk-do, Republic of Korea

    Kyu-Tae Chang PhD, Sang-Rae Lee PhD, Sun-Uk Kim PhD & Seon-A Choi PhD

  7. Futuristic Animal Resource & Research Center (FARRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Ochang, Chungcheongbuk-do, Republic of Korea

    Sun-Uk Kim PhD & Seon-A Choi PhD

  8. Department of Biology Education, College of Education, Chonnam National University, 77 Yongbong-ro (st), Buk-gu, Gwangju, 500-757, Republic of Korea

    Kyung-Bon Lee PhD

Authors
  1. Bo Myeong Lee MSc
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  2. Ju Lan Chun PhD
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Correspondence to Kyung-Bon Lee PhD or Min Kyu Kim PhD.

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Lee, B.M., Chun, J.L., Lee, J.H. et al. Follistatin Rescues Blastocyst Development of Poor Quality Porcine Cumulus-Oocyte Complexes by Delaying Meiotic Resumption With Decreased cGMP. Reprod. Sci. 25, 759–772 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719117725829

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