Age and anti‐Müllerian hormone levels predict the success of in vitro maturation of cat oocytes

Abstract

Contents Up to date, in vitro maturation (IVM) rates of oocytes are highly variable between individual cats. This study was carried out to investigate the predictive value of age and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentration in relation to capacity for IVM of cat oocytes. Ovaries were collected from 33 cats, which were divided into three age groups: (i) 0-3 months (pre-pubertal); (ii) 3-12 months (peripubertal); and (iii) older than 12 months (pubertal). The cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were matured and subsequently stained to check nuclear maturation status, and blood was taken for AMH analysis. Increasing age was significantly associated with decreasing AMH levels, and mean AMH levels differed significantly between all age categories: group 1: mean AMH 18.71 μg/L; group 2: mean AMH 9.27 μg/L; and group 3: mean AMH 4.13 μg/L. Moreover, the probability of maturation was more likely in groups 2 and 3 compared to group 1. Between categories 2 and 3, no significant difference in maturation probability was found (p = .31). Finally, the probability of oocyte maturation decreased significantly with increasing AMH levels. In age group 2, oocytes with a higher AMH level were less likely to mature. In age groups 1 and 3, no significant association between the AMH level and the proportion of maturated COC was found. We can conclude that if a higher probability of nuclear maturation is required, it is preferable to use cats with lower AMH levels and older than 3 months of age to improve cat IVM.

Anti‐Müllerian hormone in dogs and cats reproduction

“…The range of the AMH concentrations varies among different test systems depending on the cross-reactivity of AMH with the antibodies used. In dogs, the canine-based ELISA tests Ansh Labs ® and EastBioPharm ® cMIS/AMH (Hollinshead et al, 2017;Pir Yagci, Pekcan, Polat, Kalender, & Macun, 2016;Themmen et al, 2016;Turna Yilmaz et al, 2015) provide higher AMH values than the human-based ELISA test Beckman Coulter ® AMH Gen II (Alm & Holst, 2018;Axnér & Holst, 2015;Gharagozlou, Youssefi, Akbarinejad, Mohammedkhani, & Shahpoorzadeh, 2014;Holst & Dreimanis, 2015;Pir Yagci et al, 2016;Place et al, 2011) and a human-based chemiluminescence immunoassay (Hornakova et al, 2017;Snoeck et al, 2017;Walter et al, 2018;Walter, Feulner, et al, 2019).…”

“…In bitches, AMH could be detected before puberty (<6 months) with a canine‐based ELISA, but its detection is more reliable and independent of the test system after puberty (>6 months) (Place et al, ; Turna Yilmaz et al ). In female cats, an age‐dependant decline in the AMH concentration is described with the highest AMH values measured in kittens up to 3 month of age and significantly lower values in cats older than 12 months of age (Snoeck, Sarrazin, Wydoogh, & Soom, ). This phenomenon in female cats cannot be explained yet and needs further investigation.…”

In vitro maturation of domestic cat oocytes subjected to different incubation times

“…In vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes is a primordial and essential step of in vitro embryo production (IVEP), providing the necessary conditions for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and subsequent in vitro embryonic development. Under optimal culture conditions, approximately 50-79% of immature oocytes from domestic cats reach nuclear maturation (Snoeck et al, 2016;Sowińska et al, 2016;Prochowska et al, 2019). However, these IVM rates are highly variable according to the individuality of domestic cats (Snoeck et al, 2016), and the in vitro development performance tends to decrease as the selected mature oocytes follow the IVEP process (Hribal et al, 2013;Sowińska et al, 2016).…”

“…Under optimal culture conditions, approximately 50-79% of immature oocytes from domestic cats reach nuclear maturation (Snoeck et al, 2016;Sowińska et al, 2016;Prochowska et al, 2019). However, these IVM rates are highly variable according to the individuality of domestic cats (Snoeck et al, 2016), and the in vitro development performance tends to decrease as the selected mature oocytes follow the IVEP process (Hribal et al, 2013;Sowińska et al, 2016). Several factors can influence IVM success, ranging from donor reproductive status to in vitro conditions, including incubation time (Nagano et al, 2008;Wlodarczyk et al, 2009;Zhong et al, 2015).…”

“…For domestic cat oocytes, the period proposed by some authors to perform IVM ranges between 24 to 44 h (Comizzoli et al, 2003;Demir et al, 2014;Snoeck et al, 2016;Evecen et al, 2016;Veraguas et al, 2017;Brusentsev et al 2018).…”