Equine Oocyte Maturation in a Novel Medium Without CO2 Gas Phase

Recently, the demand for transportation of immature equine oocytes collected by ovum pick up (OPU) for in vitro embryo production has increased. Routinely after recovery, immature oocytes are placed in complex or simple embryo holding media (HM) at room temperature for ∼18h, followed by a CO2 phase incubation (∼30h) before ICSI and culture, with reported cleavage and blastocyst rates of 68-85% and 20-37%, respectively. Simplifying initial processing and maturation of oocytes would provide an efficient alternative while potentially mitigating oxidative stress.
Source: Journal of Equine Veterinary Science - Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Source Type: research