Vitrification of Bovine Embryos Cultured in a Medium Supplemented with β-Mercaptoetanol

• Emilia Rosa Lliteras-Martínez Autonomous University of Baja California Sur, Mexico. https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6835-9024
• Alejandro Palacios-Espinosa Autonomous University of Baja California Sur, Mexico. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4726-4164
• Victor Manuel Meza-Villalvazo Universidad del Papaloapan, Mexico https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9870-9442
• José Abad-Zavaleta Papaloapan University, Mexico https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4130-8023
• Peter Bols University of Antwerp, Belgium https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0432-8719
• José Luis Espinoza-Villavicencio Autonomous University of Baja California Sur, Mexico https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8609-8325
• Ricardo Ortega-Pérez Autonomous University of Baja California Sur, Mexico https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3718-9439

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14602061

Keywords: Antioxidant, Cryopreservation, Cryosurvival, Bovine embryo

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate different concentrations of β-mercaptoethanol (β-ME) during in vitro culture of bovine embryos and determine the effect of vitrification on survival rate of embryos cultured in a medium supplemented with ß-ME. Experiment 1: Post-fertilization, zygotes were assigned to culture groups with 0, 50, 100 and 150 µM β-ME. Experiment 2: zygotes were cultured in presence or absence of 100 µM β-ME followed by vitrification by Cryologic method. Survival, total cell number and apoptotic rate were used as quality and cryotolerance indicator. Cleavage rate follows a negative linear trend, and it was lower at 150 µM concentration of β-ME, no differences were found between the other concentrations. Percentage of embryos follows a quadratic trend showing the greatest response to a concentration of 100 µM of β-ME. It was shown that supplementation with 100 µM of β-ME during in vitro culture increased survival rate and total cells number and reduced the apoptosis. 

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