LIPID METABOLISM DURING THE INITIAL DEVELOPMENT OF IN VITRO PRODUCED BOVINE EMBRYOS

Abstract

Per year, more than 800.000 bovine embryos are transferred into recipient cows, one third of that produced in the laboratory, where oocytes are in vitro. Despite these numbers, the rates of IVP blastocyst remain low, around 40% of the initially grown oocytes reach the blastocyst stage, and part of them are compromised in terms of quality and competence. This competence is often assessed by morphology parameters as embryo cleavage and blastocyst. However, with the advent of new biotechnologies, it has become clear that embryonic competence may be severely compromised without noticeable morphological changes, but due to metabolic differences found in early embryonic development. One of these changes is the large lipid accumulation in IVP embryos that is associated with a low viability and cryopreservation potential. Thus, the aim of this work is to characterize in bovine embryos of different development pattern the consumption / production of molecules related to lipid metabolism, looking for a possible biomarker of embryo viability. For this, IVP bovine embryos will be produced, cultured in individual droplets and classified by the kinetics of development. The embryos will be collected for evaluation at different stages of early development. These evaluations consist of quantification of total lipids (SUDAN BLACK B), characterization of lipids by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and expression of genes related to lipid metabolism by real-time PCR .