Animal Bioscience (May 2023)

Protodioscin protects porcine oocytes against H2O2-induced oxidative stress during in vitro maturation

  • So-Hee Kim,
  • Seung-Eun Lee,
  • Jae-Wook Yoon,
  • Hyo-Jin Park,
  • Seung-Hwan Oh,
  • Do-Geon Lee,
  • Da-Bin Pyeon,
  • Eun-Young Kim,
  • Se-Pill Park

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5713/ab.22.0282
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 36, no. 5
pp. 710 – 719

Abstract

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Objective The present study investigated whether protodioscin (PD), a steroidal saponin mainly found in rhizome of Dioscorea species, alleviates oxidative stress-induced damage of porcine oocytes during in vitro maturation. Methods Oocytes were treated with different concentrations of PD (0, 1, 10, 100, and 200 μM) in the presence of 200 μM H2O2 during in vitro maturation. Following maturation, spindle morphology and mitogen-activated protein kinase activity was assessed along with reactive oxygen species level, GSH activity, and mRNA expression of endogenous antioxidant genes at the MII stage. On the day 7 after parthenogenetic activation, blastocyst formation rate was calculated and the quality of embryo and mRNA expression of development-related genes was evaluated. Results Developmental competence was significantly poorer in the 0 μM PD-treated (control) group than in the non-treated (normal) and 10 μM PD-treated (10PD) groups. Although the reactive oxygen species level did not significantly differ between these three groups, the glutathione level and mRNA expression of antioxidant genes (superoxide dismutase 1 [SOD1], SOD2, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 [Nrf2], and hemo oxygenase-1 [HO-1]) were significantly higher in the normal and 10PD groups than in the control group. In addition, the percentage of oocytes with defective spindle and abnormal chromosomal alignment was significantly lower and the ratio of phosphorylated p44/42 to total p44/42 was significantly higher in the normal and 10PD groups than in the control group. The total cell number per blastocyst was significantly higher in the 10PD group than in the control group. The percentage of apoptotic cells in blastocysts was highest in the control group; however, the difference was not significant. mRNA expression of development-related genes (POU domain, class 5, transcription factor 1 [POU5F1], caudal type homeobox 2 [CDX2], Nanog homeobox [NANOG]) was consistently increased by addition of PD. Conclusion The PD effectively improves the developmental competence and quality of blastocysts by protecting porcine oocytes against oxidative stress.

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