Effect of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor on in vitro Porcine Oocyte Maturation and Subsequent Developmental Competence after Parthenogenesis

We investigated the effects of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) on in vitro maturation and subsequent embryos developmental competence after Parthenogenesis (PA) and Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT). For this porcine, Cumulus Oocyte Complexes (COCs) were matured in the medium supplemented with different concentrations of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and then the maturation and intracellular Glutathione (GSH) concentration of oocytes were examined. In addition, the developmental competence of oocytes matured with different concentrations of VEGF after Parthenogenetic Activation (PA) or Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) was observed. Although, the maturation rates among these groups were not significantly different (81.13 +/- 2.61; 83.93 +/- 1.97; 82.14 +/- 4.03; 75.24 +/- 2.68, respectively). Total intracellular Glutathione (GSH) concentrations of oocytes matured with 5-50 ng mL(-1) VEGF were increased significantly (12.68 +/- 0.076 and 12.33 +/- 0.53 pMol oocyte(-1), respectively) compared to the control and 500 ng mL(-1) (10.19 +/- 0.66 and 10.54 +/- 0.54 pMol oocyte(-1)) groups. The blastocyst formation rates after PA of oocytes matured with 5-50 ng mL(-1) VEGF were increased significantly (58.99 +/- 4.70 and 50.00 +/- 1.09%, respectively) compared with the control and 500 ng mL(-1) VEGF (30.15 +/- 4.52 and 34.79 +/- 4.01%, respectively). Total cells number were significantly higher in 5-50 ng mL(-1) VEGF treatment groups (83.21 +/- 4.89 and 78.16 +/- 6.15, respectively) compared to control and 500 ng mL(-1) VEGF treated groups (56.91 +/- 4.78 and 55.93 +/- 3.89, respectively). Similarly, the blastocyst formation rate and total cell number (14.54 +/- 1.42, 67.83 +/- 6.56, respectively) after SCNT of oocytes matured with 5 ng mL(-1) VEGF was significantly higher than that of oocytes matured without VEGF (7.95 +/- 1.44 and 48.09 +/- 5.36, respectively). The rate of COCs with fully expanded cumulus was significantly higher in 5 ng mL(-1) VEGF treated group (85.37 +/- 0.73%) compared to control (58.89 +/- 0.88%). In conclusion, adding 5 ng mL(-1) VEGF during IVM improved the developmental potential of PA and SCNT in porcine embryos by increasing the intracellular GSH level during oocyte maturation.