Effect of Enrichment of In Vitro Fertilization Medium with Cysteine on Fertilization and Embryo Development in Buffaloes

Abstract

The current study aimed to elucidate the effect of adding various concentrations of cysteine to the in vitro fertilization culture medium on the fertilization rate and following embryonic development of buffalo oocytes. In vitro matured oocytes were fertilized using different concentrations of cysteine (0.5, 1.3 mM) in the presence of 5.0 mM caffeine. After in vitro fertilization, fertilization rate, cleavage rate and developmental rates till the blastocyst stage have been evaluated. The present results revealed that supplementation of the fertilization media with 0.3 Mm cysteine enhanced significantly (P<0.05) the fertilization rate and the development rates till the morula and blastocyst stages (53.45% ± 6.61%, 19.18% ± 4.64% and 13.70% ± 4.05%, respectively) compared to those of the control groups (30.65% ± 5.90%, 5.56% ± 3.15% and 1.85% ± 1.85 %, espectively). The current results demonstrated that addition of 0.3 mM cysteine to a fertilization medium had positively improved in vitro fertilization rates and supported embryonic progress till the blastocyst stage of buffalo oocytes.