Abstract:

To study the role of Vitamin C in regulation of aging of postovulatory mouse oocytes and find a suitable way to prevent oocytes aging, newly ovulated mouse oocytes were cultured at various temperature for various time in HCZB containing various concentrations of Vitamin C before examining for parthenogenesis activation and developmental potential. To assess the quality of oocytes cultured under optimization scheme that could effectively inhibited oocytes aging, early developmental competence after in vitro fertilization, distribution of cortical granule and levels of protein BCL2 were evaluated. Oocytes were cultured in HCZB with 200 μmol/L Vitamin C at 15℃ for 24 h before a 6 h recovery culture at 37℃ , which was the optimization scheme for inhibiting oocytes aging. The results suggested appropriate concentration of Vitamin C incorporating appropriate low temperature could effectively inhibit oocytes aging.

Key words: Mouse, Oocytes, Aging, Vitamin C, Cortical granule, BCL2