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
. 2022 Apr 25;12(9):1102.
doi: 10.3390/ani12091102.

Oocyte Quality, In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Development of Alpaca Oocytes Collected by Ultrasound-Guided Follicular Aspiration or from Slaughterhouse Ovaries

Leandra Landeo  1   2 , Michele Zuñiga  1 , Teddy Gastelu  1 , Marino Artica  1 , Jaime Ruiz  1   2 , Mauricio Silva  3   4 , Marcelo H Ratto  5
Affiliations

Oocyte Quality, In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Development of Alpaca Oocytes Collected by Ultrasound-Guided Follicular Aspiration or from Slaughterhouse Ovaries

Leandra Landeo et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

The morphological quality and the in vitro developmental competence of cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) collected from in vivo or slaughtered alpacas was compared. COCs were recovered from ovarian follicles using: (i) manual aspiration in ovaries of alpacas (n = 15) sacrificed at a local slaughterhouse, or (ii) transrectal ultrasound-guided follicular aspiration (or ovum-pick-up, OPU) in live alpacas (n = 13) 4 days after the administration of an ovarian superstimulation protocol (200 UI eCG). COCs recovered from both groups were morphologically evaluated and graded. Grade I to III COCs were in vitro matured for 26 h and in vitro fertilized afterwards for 20 h using fresh alpaca epididymal spermatozoa. Presumptive zygotes from both groups were in vitro cultured for 7 days. The proportion of COCs recovered over the total number of follicles punctured was similar between groups, but the mean number of COCs collected from individual ovaries was greater (p < 0.05) in slaughterhouse ovaries. A significantly higher (p < 0.05) percentage of low-quality COCs (grades III and IV) and a lower (p < 0.05) percentage of grade I COCs was obtained using OPU. The number of blastocysts, regarding cleavage and COCs collected, was higher (p < 0.007 and p < 0.0002 respectively) for COCs collected by OPU; however, the total number of blastocysts per female did not differ between groups. We can conclude that the recovery rate and morphological quality of COCs was significantly higher when follicles were manually aspirated from slaughterhouse alpaca ovaries; however, a statistically higher developmental potential was observed in oocytes collected by OPU from live alpaca donors.

Keywords: alpaca; blastocyst; in vitro embryo production; oocytes; ovum pick-up.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representative images of COCs collected by OPU (A) from live alpacas or by manual follicular aspiration from slaughterhouse ovaries (B), early (C) and expanded blastocyst (D) produced in vitro.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Paramio M.T., Izquierdo D. Recent advances in in vitro embryo production in small ruminants. Theriogenology. 2016;86:152–159. doi: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2016.04.027. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ferré L.B., Kielland M.E., Strøbech L.B., Hyttel P., Mermillod P., Ross P.J. Review: Recent advances in bovine in vitro embryo production: Reproductive biotechnology history and methods. Animal. 2020;14:991–1004. doi: 10.1017/S1751731119002775. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Trasorras V.L., Carretero M.I., Neild D.M., Chaves M.G., Giuliano S.M., Miragaya M.H. Production, preservation and transfer of South American Camelid embryos. Front. Vet. Sci. 2017;4:190. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2017.00190. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wani N.A. In vitro embryo production (IVEP) in camelids: Present status and future perspectives. Reprod. 2021;21:100471. doi: 10.1016/j.repbio.2020.100471. - DOI
    1. Lutz J.C., Johnson S.L., Duprey K.J., Taylor P.J., Vivanco-Mackie H.W., Ponce-Salazar D., Miguel-Gonzales M., Youngs C.R. Birth of a live cria after transfer of a vitrified-warmed alpaca (Vicugna pacos) preimplantation embryo. Front. Vet. Sci. 2020;7:581877. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2020.581877. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources