Beneficial Effects of Melatonin in the Ovarian Transport Medium on In Vitro Embryo Production of Iberian Red Deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus)

摘要

The development of in vitro embryo production (IVP) in wild species, such as Iberian red deer, can become a daunting challenge since prolonged ovary transport times to the laboratory are often unavoidable. This may have detrimental effects on the quality and developmental capacity of oocytes. We evaluated the effect of supplementing the ovary transport medium with the antioxidant melatonin and observed an increased level of oocyte intracellular reduced glutathione content. Moreover, melatonin enhanced cleavage and blastocyst rates and had a positive effect on embryo quality in terms of the expression of essential embryo development-related genes. In conclusion, the addition of melatonin to the ovary storage medium could mitigate the negative impacts that long transport times may have on oocyte developmental competence and quality of the resulting blastocysts in Iberian red deer.