Effect of zinc supplement on the number of embryos obtained from ivf

Fatemeh Ouroujzadeh,1,* Mahnaz azarnia,2 Seyyedeh ghadireh mirabolghasemi,3 Mahdi hadi,4

1. Department of Cellular & Development Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
2. Department of Cellular & Development Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
3. Department of Cellular & Development Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
4. Advanced Biopharmaceuticals Department, Tofigh Darou, Research and Engineering Company, 18h Karaj highway, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction

Since ivf-related techniques have a rapid progression, they are used as an effective therapy for the treatment of sterile couples. zinc is essential a factor for reproductive cycle of animals, due to critical role to the formation and maturity of sperm. also it is necessary for ovulation and fertilization during pregnancy. zinc deficiency causes a number of abnormalities such as: spontaneous abortion, pregnancy-related stroke, long-term pregnancy or premature abnormalities and growth regression. also, studies have shown that autologous serum has a series of key proteins and growth factors that can treat some diseases, such as endometritis, associated with inflammation of the uterus. autologous conditioned serum (acs) is used in human and veterinary medicine to regulate inflammatory response. in this study, we examine the effect of zinc supplement in culture medium compared to the acs on the number of embryos in ivf culture.

Methods

By use of zinc supplement and acs (from blood of mouse) in the mhrm culture medium, the effect zn and asc on development and the number of embryos, from the egg stage to the 4 cells embryo (which can be transmitted to the uterus horn), were studied. in present study, a few numbers of female and male mice (nmri) were used to extract adult oocyte and sperm. female mice were stimulated with intraperitoneal injection of pmsg and hcg hormones for super ovulation. released oocytes from the oviduct part were removed by dissection of oviduct. also, the epididymis tail was placed in a culture medium containing bsa in the incubator for one hour in order to capacity-building of the sperms. ultimately, more motile and healthy sperms were collected. then sperms were added to culture mediums contain zinc and also acs, separately, including oocytes. these cultures were incubated for 4-6 hours in incubator for fertilization. in the end, two and four cells embryos were observed 24 to 48 hours after fertilization, respectively.

Results

According to studies, zinc supplement is essential for the maturity of the ovule. it is possible that this zn supplement can increase the number of embryos. based on data in this study, the number of embryos from medium contain zinc supplement was increased compared with control group, of course no in significant range. conversely, in culture contain autologous serum the number of 2 and 4 cells embryos were significantly decreased compared with control group. it conclude that, zn supplement can be considered as a positive effective factor on development of embryos in ivf culture more than autologous serum factor.

Conclusion

Blastocyst formation at a specific dose has been dramatically increased, according to zinc supplementation studies conducted on ivm of pigs oocytes. zinc supplements are expected to increase the number of embryos derived from ivf by adjusting the amount of intracellular glutathione (gsh) and expressing a series of transcription factors. our experiment on nmri mice supported such studies. however, according to our study, it is possible that acs has not enough proteins to grow embryos.

Keywords

zinc supplement ivf bsa acs