Reproduction Abstracts

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) enhances the proliferation, differentiation and survival of cells. In addition, G-CSF is a non-invasive biomarker of human oocyte developmental competence for embryo implantation. In human follicle G-CSF concentration increased during the ovulatory. At present experiment, the cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) were aspirated from superficial follicles (1–3 and 3–6 mm). COCs from small and medium follicle were matured in protein-free maturation medium supplemented with concentrations of hG-CSF (0, 10 and 100 ng/ml). After 44 h of IVM, the ratios of nuclear maturation have no difference. The intracellular ROS levels of oocytes from both follicle groups matured with 10 ng/ml were significantly (P<0.05) decreased. However, all groups showed no significantly difference in GSH levels. After PA, the cleavage and blastocyst stage was significantly (P<0.05) high in 100 ng/ml with small and 10 ng/ml with medium follicle. Cell numbers of blastocyst from both follicle groups were significantly high in 10 ng/ml. After IVF, the blastocyst stage was significantly (P<0.05) increased in 10 ng/ml with medium follicle. Monospermy and fertilization efficiency were significantly high in the 100 ng/ml of small and 10 ng/ml of medium follicle. We examined the Has2 and Bax transcript levels were significantly decreased in cumulus cells from small follicle treatment and the Bcl2 and ERK2 were significantly increased from medium follicle treatment. In conclusion, these results indicate that hG-CSF improve the viability of porcine embryos. Research supported, in part, by a grant from the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant Government (NRF-2012R1A1A4A01004885, NRF-2013R1A2A2A04008751), Republic of Korea.