Factors affecting in vitro embryo production: insights into dromedary camel

Abstract

The Dromedary camel (Camelus dromedaries) is an important species because of its ability to produce good quality meat, milk, and fibers under harsh environmental conditions. Camels are also crucial for transportation, racing, and as draft animals in agriculture. Therefore, dromedary camels play a critical role in the economy for millions of people living in the arid part of the world. The inherent capability of camels to produce meat and milk is highly correlated with their reproductive performance. Compared with other domestic species, the reproductive efficiency in camelids is low. Although recent reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) have been successfully applied to camelids and the birth of live offspring following these technologies has been reported; in vitro embryo production (IVP) has lagged in this species. The development of the IVP system for dromedary camels may be a useful tool for the genetic improvement of this species. IVP in farm animals includes three main steps; in vitro maturation (IVM) of an oocyte, IVF of a matured oocyte, and in vitro culture (IVC) of fertilized oocyte up to the blastocyst stage. This review aims to summarize various factors that influence oocyte quality, IVM, and in vitro embryo development in dromedary camel.

Comparison of in vitro Maturation Media on Cattle Oocytes after in vitro Embryo Production

“…Numerous additives, including serums, follicular fluid, hormones, epidermal growth factors, antioxidants, caffeine, L-carnitine, and retinoic acid, have been used successfully during IVM to enhance the results of IVP in various species, including cattle (Moawad et al, 2020).…”

“…In addition to adding nutritional value, several protein sources like serum and bovine serum albumin have been mixed in culture media. The serum also serves a variety of other support roles for oocyte maturation and embryo development (Moawad et al, 2020). For instance, it helps to avoid the hardening of the zona pellucida, which could harm fertilization (Downs et al, 1986).…”

“…By limiting the action of proteolytic enzymes rising from the premature release of cortical granules, fetuin, an important glycoprotein component of FCS, can help to prevent the hardening of zona pellucida and thus improve fertilization outcomes (Schroeder et al, 1990). Additionally, the serum has antioxidant benefits that work by lessening the formation of superoxide (Moawad et al, 2020). Additionally, albumin, which is essential for controlling the osmolality of the media, is assessed in the serum as a source of protein (Thompson, 2000).…”

An easy, safe, and practical method for semen collection in dromedary camels

“…Generally, in-vitro production system of camel embryos is not well developed. Low number of collected oocytes and low rate of oocyte maturation in camelids in comparison to cattle are the main obstacles (Moawad et al, 2020;Wani, 2021).…”

The role of sonic hedgehog signaling pathway in in vitro oocyte maturation

“…4, December 2021 184 oocytes can be completed, cytoplasmic maturation usually remains incomplete, thereby possibly leading to poor embryonic development (Marchal et al, 2003). Since the nuclear maturation of oocytes must be accompanied by a variety of events that occur within the cytoplasm to complete embryonic development (Krisher, 2004), various attempts have been made to improve developmental competence of IVM oocytes in different species, including pigs (Appeltant et al, 2016;Jeon et al, 2020), cattle (Abd El-Aziz et al, 2016), and camels (Moawad et al, 2020;Saadeldin and Cho, 2021). These include supplementation of porcine IVM medium with antioxidants such as resveratrol (Lee et al, 2015) and spermine (Jin et al, 2016) to scavenge reactive oxygen species produced during the IVM process.…”