Age-associated deterioration in both the quality and quantity of mitochondria occurs in
older women. The main aim of this study was to examine the effect of age on mitochondrial
DNA copy number (mtDNA number) in early developmental stage bovine embryos as well as the
dynamics of mtDNA number during early embryo development. Real-time PCR was used to
determine mtDNA number. In vitro-produced embryos 48 h after insemination
derived from Japanese black cows, ranging in age from 25 to 209 months were categorized
based on their cleavage status. There was an overall negative relationship between the age
of the cow and cleavage status, to the extent that the ratio of embryos cleaved over the
4-cell stage was greater in younger cows. The mtDNA number did not differ among the
cleaved status of embryos. In the next experiment, oocytes collected from each donor cow
were divided into 2 groups containing 10 oocytes each, in order to compare the mtDNA
number of mature oocytes and early developmental stage embryos within individuals. Upon
comparing the mtDNA number between oocytes at the M2 stage and early developmental stage
48 h post insemination, mtDNA number was found to decrease in most cows, but was found to
increase in some cows. In conclusion, age affects the cleaving ability of oocytes, and
very old cows (> 180 months) tend to have lower mtDNA numbers in their oocytes. The
change in mtDNA number during early development varied among individual cows, although
overall, it showed a tendency to decrease.