Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Aug 16;15(2):124-134.
doi: 10.21451/1984-3143-2017-AR986.

Oocyte maturation with royal jelly increases embryo development and reduces apoptosis in goats

Arash Veshkini  1 , Abdollah Mohammadi-Sangcheshmeh  2 , Nasser Ghanem  3 , Amir Hossein Abazari-Kia  1 , Elmira Mottaghi  4 , Reza Kamaledini  4 , Hamid Deldar  5 , Irfan Ozturk  6 , Eduardo Leite Gastal  7
Affiliations

Oocyte maturation with royal jelly increases embryo development and reduces apoptosis in goats

Arash Veshkini et al. Anim Reprod. .

Abstract

Royal jelly (RJ) was supplemented to goat oocyte in vitro maturation (IVM) medium at three different concentrations (2.5, 5, and 10 mg/ml). Maturation rate, embryo cleavage, and blastocyst rate were recorded. Gene expression of apoptosis-related transcripts was investigated in matured oocytes. Percentage of oocytes that reached MII-stage was increased in RJ-treated groups compared to the control group. Glutathione (GSH) content of mature oocytes was enhanced when RJ was added to IVM medium at any supplementation compared with control. Percentage of cleaved embryos and blastocysts was higher in the RJ-treated groups at a concentration of 5 than in the 2.5 mg/ml and control group. Total number of cells per blastocyst was not different in the control and RJ-treated group at 5 mg/ml. However, number of apoptotic cells per blastocyst was higher in the control group than in the RJ-treated group at 5 mg/ml. Expression profile of Bax, and p53 was down-regulated while Bcl-2 was up-regulated in oocytes treated with RJ at 5 and 10 mg/ml compared with the control group. Addition of RJ at concentrations of 5 mg/ml improved embryo production through increasing maturation rate. RJ seems to improve the IVM microenvironment by reducing expression of genes inducing apoptosis, enhancing GSH content, and reducing incidence of apoptosis in blastocysts.

Keywords: embryo; gene expression; in vitro fertilization; oocyte; royal jelly.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Percentages of cumulus expansion score (fully expanded, partially expanded, and non-expanded) of COCs treated with different concentrations of royal jelly during IVM. a,b,c,d Bars with uncommon superscripts are different (P < 0.05).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Glutathione content of oocytes treated with different concentrations of royal jelly during IVM. a,b,c,d Bars with uncommon superscripts are different (P < 0.05).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Representative images of oocytes’ fluorescent intensity for glutathione content.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Expression profile of Bax, Bcl-2, and p53 genes in oocytes treated with different concentrations of royal jelly during IVM using quantitative real-time PCR. a,b,c,dBars with uncommon superscripts are different (P < 0.05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abazari-Kia AH , Mohammadi-Sangcheshmeh A , Dehghani-Mohammadabadi M , Jamshidi-Adegani F , Veshkini A , Zhandi M , Cinar MU , Salehi M. Intracellular glutathione content, developmental competence and expression of apoptosis-related genes associated with G6PDH-activity in goat oocyte . J Assist Reprod Genet. 2014;31:313–321. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abazari-Kia AH , Dehghani-Mohammadabadi M , Mohammadi-Sangcheshmeh A , Zhandi M , Salehi M. Regulation of embryonic development and apoptotic-related gene expression by brain-derived neurotrophic factor in two different culture conditions in ovine . Theriogenology. 2015;84:62–69. - PubMed
    1. Albuz F , Sasseville M , Lane M , Armstrong D , Thompson J , Gilchrist R. Simulated physiological oocyte maturation (SPOM): a novel in vitro maturation system that substantially improves embryo yield and pregnancy outcomes . Hum Reprod. 2010;25:2999–3011. - PubMed
    1. Ali A , Bilodeau J , Sirard M. Antioxidant requirements for bovine oocytes varies during in vitro maturation, fertilization and development . Theriogenology. 2003;59:939–949. - PubMed
    1. Bărnuţiu LI , Mărghitaş LA , Dezmirean DS , Mihai CM , Bobiş O. Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of Royal Jelly . Sci Pap Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2011;44:67–72. Review.

LinkOut - more resources