Influence of L-arginine during bovine <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">in vitro</i> fertilization

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of using L-arginine during <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">in vitro</i> fertilization (IVF) on <span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">in vitro embryonic development using <span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Bos taurus and <span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Bos indicus semen. Effect of different concentrations (0, 1, 10 and 50 mM) of L-arginine, added to the IVF medium, was evaluated on the fertilization rate at 18 h post-fertilization (hpf), NO₃^-/NO₂^- production during IVF by the Griess colorimetric method (30 hpf), cleavage and blastocyst rates (on Day 2 and Day 7 of culture, respectively) and total blastocyst cell number (Day 7 of culture). The results reveal that the addition of 50 mM L-arginine to IVF medium, with either <span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Bos taurus or <span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Bos indicus spermatozoa, decreased the cleavage rate and blastocyst rate compared to the control group. Other concentrations did not affect embryo production. However, 1 mM L-arginine with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Bos indicus</i> semen increased the proportion of hatched blastocysts. These results indicate that high L-arginine concentrations may exhibit toxic effects on bovine gametes during <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">in vitro </i>fertilization.

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