Abstract
Follicular fluid (FF) protects the oocyte against proteolysis and extrusion during ovulation, providing an appropriate microenvironment that favors proper embryonic development; thereby, FF plays a key role in embryo quality. Being directly related to cattle breeding, studying FF is extremely important in livestock science to measure cattle fertility. This may eventually help to assess the quality of both meat and milk, products widely consumed worldwide. There is an important commercial interest in the evaluation and characterization of compounds present in the FF of livestock that present greater likelihood of pregnancy. Mass spectrometry is a great ally for this type of analysis and can provide quick and efficient screening for molecular markers in biological samples. The present study demonstrated the potential of high-resolution mass spectrometry in analyzing FF samples from two distinct groups of Nellore cows (Bos indicus): high and low fertility, as determined by the number of oocytes produced. We were able to delineate markers of interest for each group, which may ultimately be related to biochemical pathways that lead to higher or lower reproductive performance.
Highlights
In the past 40 years, beef and dairy cattle were subject to intense selection, especially in terms of genetic engineering, primarily focusing on the improvement of milk and meat production [1]
The present study demonstrates the potential of high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) to provide biomarkers for high and low fertility in cows (Bos indicus) from samples of Follicular fluid (FF), where it was possible to assign molecular markers to each group within a biochemical context, thereby demonstrating the sensitivity of this new methodology
The three markers for the high number of oocytes group in the positive ion mode presented an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.996 (0.978–1.00), with a sensitivity and specificity values of 0.950 (0.851–0.987) and 0.992 (0.950–1.000), respectively (Figure 2A)
Summary
In the past 40 years, beef and dairy cattle were subject to intense selection, especially in terms of genetic engineering, primarily focusing on the improvement of milk and meat production [1]. It is currently known that this is a condition associated with both genetic and environmental elements, and the role of oocyte and embryo quality in the final fertility is the most noteworthy feature discussed in recent literature [6, 7]. Newer platforms, such as transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, have been increasingly assisting researchers and clinicians in investigating and selecting oocytes and embryos using sophisticated methods. The trend of performing noninvasive sampling and evaluations has been increasing recently, giving a whole new relevance for the use of these samples [8]
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