Title
Effect of corifollitropin alfa supplemented with or without LH on ovarian stimulation and embryo viability in rabbit
Date Issued
01 August 2017
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Universitat Politècnica de València
Publisher(s)
Elsevier Inc.
Abstract
There is increasing interest in using rabbits for research as a laboratory model as well as for industrial production of meat, wool and fur. Superovulation in animals is used to produce a maximum number of transferable embryos per donor, in order to either support genetic improvement programs, ex situ conservation or to optimize other biotechnologies. Over time, the use of this biotechnology has shown variable outcomes as a consequence of several factors, such as the origin of exogenous hormone, posology and the effect of gonadotropins used simultaneously, the donor and the environment. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of a single injection of corifollitropin alfa (CTP), alone or supplemented with LH, versus a FSH standard protocol of five equal doses administered twice daily to superovulate rabbit does (20 per group and 29 control females). We determined: 1) the impact of this stimulation on in vitro development and mRNA expression at blastocyst stage and 2) in vivo embryo development and viability rate at birth of transferred embryos. Our outcomes showed that the ovulation rate was similar among the different ovarian stimulation groups, reaching more than fourfold the ovulation rate of a control doe. While rates of embryos developing to the blastocyst stage after 48 h of in vitro culture were similar between groups, the hatched blastocyst rate was higher for superovulated embryos from CTP group. Moreover, no significant differences among mRNA expression of OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG genes were detected. Nevertheless, embryos from ovarian stimulated does with CTP + LH showed significantly higher implantation rates and survival at birth among the different ovarian stimulation groups and similar to those in the control group. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that a single injection of long acting corifollitropin alfa can be effectively used in rabbits to elicit a more than fourfold increase in ovulation rate compared to control animals. In addition, the LH supplementation allows us to obtain similar in vivo embryo development results as in the control group.
Start page
68
End page
74
Volume
98
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Biología del desarrollo
Ciencia veterinaria
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85018892097
PubMed ID
Source
Theriogenology
ISSN of the container
0093691X
Sponsor(s)
This research was supported by the projects: Spanish Research project AGL2014-53405-C2-1-P Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CICYT) and Prometeo II 2014/36 Generalitat Valenciana research program. English text version revised by N. Macowan English Language Service.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus