Omega-3 fatty acids may play a pivotal role in oocyte maturation in vitro and in vivo. however, there are controversy regarding the omega-3 fatty acids concentrations which may influence oocyte maturation. this in vitro experiment was exerted to determine the effects of low and high dose of omega-3 on oocyte maturation in vitro
Methods
Ethanol alcohol (96%) was added to content of each capsule to prepare the desired solution. nmri mice were superovulated by injection of gonadotrophin and killed 44hr later and the ovaries were removed. the oocytes were collected and cultured in α-men culture medium and divided into 4 groups: control (no treatment), sham (exposed to ethanol alcohol 96%), exp1 and exp2 ( exposed to 10 and 100 mg/ml of eicosapentaenoic ethyl ester deco pentane ethyl ester in a ratio of 4 to 380mg/ml in pure alcohol solvent, respectively). the cells were incubated for 24 h at 38.58c under 5% co2 in humidified air and were considered mature if telophase-i or metaphase-ii stages were seen. statistical analysis was performed using anova.
Results
The rate of oocytes arrested at mii stage significantly increased in groups exposed to 10 and 100 mg/ml of omega-3 compared to control group. exposure to 10 mg/ml of omega-3 led to higher significant increase in percentage of oocytes arrested at mi stage compared to group exposed to 100 mg/ml of omega-3. the complete maturation rate of oocytes significantly decreased and increased in groups exposed to 10 and 100 mg/ml of omega-3 compared to control group, respectively.
Conclusion
Adding of omega-3 to oocytes environment improves oocyte maturation, according to which, using of omega-3 is of significant importance in female reproductive system improvement.
