Studies on a chemically defined medium for in vitro culture of in vitro matured and fertilized porcine oocytes

The present study evaluated the effects of various components in a chemically defined medium on the development of IVM/IVF porcine embryos. The investigated components included energy substrates (lactate, pyruvate or glucose, alone or in various combinations), amino acids (glutamine, glycine or alanine), PVP and HEPES buffer. The effects of each energy substrate were the same as the control. However, a mixture of lactate with either of the other energy substrates increased the development rate. Glutamine tended to decrease rate of the development more than other amino acids, and this inhibition was dose dependent. Both PVP and HEPES buffer did not affect development rate. However, more than 35 mM HEPES buffer induced fragmentation From the above results, a new culture medium was designed (supplemented with 0.276 mM glycine, 0.176 mM alanine, 15 mM HEPES buffer and 1% (wt/vol) PVP in BSA-free Whitten's medium with or without glucose). The new medium resulted in a higher embryo development rate (20.4 and 16.3%) than that obtained with the control medium (10.0%).