Usefulness of bovine and porcine IVM/IVF models for reproductive toxicology

Abstract

Women presenting fertility problems are often helped by Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART), such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) programs. However, in many cases the etiology of the in/subfertility remains unknown even after treatment. Although several aspects should be considered when assisting a woman with problems to conceive, a survey on the patients’ exposure to contaminants would help to understand the cause of the fertility problem, as well as to follow the patient properly during IVF. Daily exposure to toxic compounds, mainly environmental and dietary ones, may result in reproductive impairment. For instance, because affects oocyte developmental competence. Many of these compounds, natural or synthetic, are endocrine disruptors or endocrine active substances that may impair reproduction. To understand the risks and the mechanism of action of such chemicals in human cells, the use of proper in vitro models is essential. The present review proposes the bovine and porcine models to evaluate toxic compounds on oocyte maturation, fertilization and embryo production in vitro. Moreover, we discuss here the species-specific differences when mice, bovine and porcine are used as models for human.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1477-7827-12-117) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Isobutylparaben Negatively Affects Porcine Oocyte Maturation Through Increasing Oxidative Stress and Cytoskeletal Abnormalities

“…This study also provides a warning for women who are frequently exposed to IBP at high concentrations by using in vitro culture model of porcine cumulus oocyte complexes as can be seen in Figure . The reason we chose porcine oocytes as a model because oocyte size and maturation time are more like human than mouse (Santos et al ), and several articles have used porcine cumulus oocyte complexes to evaluate oocyte (Liu et al ; Han et al ; Wang et al ; Miao et al ; Liang et al ).…”

Moderate increase of reactive oxygen species triggers meiotic resumption in rat follicular oocytes

“…The achievement of meiotic competency is very important as it enables an oocyte to gain fertilization ability. The use of meiotically competent oocytes could improve the outcomes of assisted reproductive technology in most mammalian species, including humans …”

Endocrine Disruptors in Domestic Animal Reproduction: A Clinical Issue?

“…The well-advanced reproductive biotechnology techniques for domestic animals have allowed the use of bovine and porcine in vitro maturation/fertilization models for studying endocrine disruptors, as recently reviewed by Santos et al (2014) and previously by others (Brevini et al 2005; Magnusson 2005). Cells or systems used are for instance oocytes (Grossman et al 2012), co-culture of theca and granulosa cells (Gregoraszczuk et al 2008a,b), Leydig cells (Castellanos et al 2013), sperm (Mohamed et al 2011; Lukac et al 2013) and testicular interstitial cells (Pathirana et al 2011).…”