sq-23377 and dehydroleucodine

In bovine, correct oocyte artificial activation is a key step in ICSI and other reproductive biotechnologies, and still needs to be improved. The current study was designed to compare the activating efficiency of ionomycin (Io) followed by: a 4 h time window and ethanol (4h-Et), roscovitine (Rosc), dehydroleucodine (DhL), cycloheximide (CHX) or PD0325901 (PD), each as a single treatment, and then combine them in novel protocols. Parthenogenetic haploid activation was evaluated in terms of pronuclear (PN) formation, second polar body (2PB) extrusion, ploidy of day 2 embryos and in vitro development. Combined treatments with Io-4h-Et-Rosc and Io-Rosc/CHX increased PN formation (92.2% and 96%, respectively) compared with Io-Rosc, Io-CHX or Io-4h-Et, which were equally efficient at inducing PN formation (82-84%) and 2PB extrusion (62.1-70.5%). Oocyte activation with Io-DhL and Io-Rosc/DhL resulted in higher 2PB extrusion rates (90% and 95.9%, respectively) but lower PN formation (49.4-58.8%) and cleavage rates (36-57.9%), as occurred with Io-CHX/DhL (76.4% and 70.4%, respectively). For the first time, results show that Io followed by the MAPK inhibitor PD induces PN formation and 2PB extrusion, but PD combined with Rosc or CHX resulted in low rates of haploid day 2 embryos. In conclusion, DhL strongly induces 2PB extrusion but leads to poor PN formation and embryo development. PD induces bovine oocyte activation but results in low rates of haploid embryos. In contrast, the improved PN formation rates after treatment with combined Io-4h-Et-Rosc and Io-Rosc/CHX suggest they should be further evaluated in ART, aiming to increase success rates in bovine.

Topics: Animals; Benzamides; Cattle; Diphenylamine; Ethanol; Female; Ionomycin; Lactones; Maturation-Promoting Factor; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; Oocytes; Parthenogenesis; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; Roscovitine; Sesquiterpenes

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of dehydroleucodine (DhL), a new drug isolated from a medicinal herb used in Argentina, for activation of bovine oocyte. Several DhL concentrations and exposure times after ionomycin (Io) treatment were tested. The optimal DhL treatment, found for parthenogenetic development, was employed to produce bovine embryos by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The best parthenogenic embryo developments were observed with 5 μM Io for 4 min followed by 5 μM DhL concentration and after 3-h exposure time (52.3% cleavage; 17.4% morulae; 7.3% blastocyst; n = 109). This treatment generated no significant differences with standard Io plus 6-dimethylaminopurine (DMAP) treatment in preimplantation embryo development. In our conditions, the embryo development reached after ICSI and SCNT assisted by the DhL treatment did not differ in terms of cleavage and blastocyst development from activation with standard Io plus DMAP treatment (p > 0.05). In conclusion, DhL utilization to activate oocytes and induce development of parthenogenotes, ICSI-embryos or SCNT-embryos is reported here for first time.

Topics: Animals; Cattle; Cloning, Organism; Embryo, Mammalian; Embryonic Development; Ionomycin; Lactones; Molecular Structure; Nuclear Transfer Techniques; Ovum; Parthenogenesis; Sesquiterpenes; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic

In this work, Dehydroleucodine (DhL) was evaluated as a chemical activator of bovine oocytes and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) reconstituted embryos. Oocytes were activated with 5 microM Ionomycin (Io) and exposed for 3 h to 1 or 5 microM DhL alone (Io-Dhl1 or Io-DhL5) or combined with Cytochalasin B (Io-DhL1/CB; Io-DhL5/CB). Control groups were Io (Io), Io followed by 1.9 mM 6-Dimethylaminopurine (Io-6DMAP), and embryos produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Pronuclear formation and development to blastocysts of activated oocytes were evaluated. Embryos obtained by the DhL concentration that induced the highest blastocyst rates (1 microM) were karyotyped. An additional treatment based in Io-DhL1 plus lengthened (6-h) exposure to CB (Io-DhL1/long CB) was included to improve the proportion of diploid blastomeres. Finally, DhL combined with CB was employed to assist cloning by intracytoplasmic injection of whole cumulus cells. Results showed that DhL induces a pronuclear formation dynamic that was more similar to IVF-produced embryos than DMAP. Development to blastocyst stage was higher after activation with 1 microM DhL than with 5 microM DhL, either for groups combined or not with CB (19.15; 21.74 vs. 6.82; 0%, respectively) (p < 0.05). Io-DhL1 and Io-DhL1/CB treatments induced blastocyst-cleaved embryo ratios not statistically different from those of Io-DMAP (35.85%) and IVF (33.33%) groups (p > 0.05). Io-DhL1/long CB induced higher diploid blastomere rates than Io-Dhl1, Io-DhL1/CB and Io-DMAP (63.8 vs. 36.8; 40 and 31.6%, respectively) (p < 0.05). Moreover, all DhL treatments resulted in polyploidy rates that were lower than Io-DMAP (5.2, 12.0, 10.6, and 31.6%, respectively) (p < 0.05). Io-DhL1/CB and Io-DhL1/long CB induced cloned embryo blastocyst rates that were not significantly different from Io-DMAP (6.1, 9.4, and 18.3%, respectively) (p < 0.05). Our results indicate that Io-DhL1/long CB protocol could be useful for SCNT programs.

Topics: Animals; Blastocyst; Cattle; Cell Nucleus; Cells, Cultured; Cloning, Organism; Cytochalasin B; Embryonic Development; Female; Fertilization in Vitro; Ionomycin; Ionophores; Lactones; Nuclear Transfer Techniques; Oocytes; Parthenogenesis; Sesquiterpenes