Abstract
Most anticancer drugs like doxorubicin (DXR) have low specificity that results in undesirable effects especially when it comes to collateral effects on reproduction. Plants are excellent sources when searching for new drugs. Auxemma oncocalyx (A. oncocalyx) and its main component Oncocalyxone A (onco A) have anti-tumoral activity and are less toxic than DXR in reproductive parameters. However, there are no studies on the action of these drugs regarding the porcine in vitro oocyte competence and embryo development. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of A. oncocalyx and onco A exposure during in vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes (Experiment 1) or in vitro embryo culture (IVC) (Experiment 2) on the oocyte developmental competence. For experiment 1, COCs were distributed in IVM medium alone (control) or supplemented with DXR (0.3 g/mL), A. oncocalyx (1.2 g/mL) and onco A (1 g/mL). Then, oocytes were submitted to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in vitro embryo culture. For experiment 2, zygotes were cultured with DXR, A. oncocalyx and onco A for 7 days. Viability, maturation, fertilization and embryo developmental parameters were evaluated in both experiments. In experiment 1; DXR, A. oncocalyx and onco A reduced (P<0.05) oocyte viability and IVM efficiency. Onco A increased (P<0.05) the meiotic resumption. After IVF, all drugs reduced (P<0.05) viability, IVF efficiency and percentage of cleaved embryos, nevertheless, only DXR decreased the percentage of blastocyst. In experiment 2; all drugs reduced (P<0.05) the percentage of penetration, but only DXR and onco A decreased (P<0.05) IVF efficiency. DXR and A. oncocalyx decreased (P<0.05) the percentage of cleaved embryo, but had no effect on blastocyst formation. In conclusion, the addition of DXR during IVM or IVC negatively affected the IVF efficiency and cleavage rate. In addition, the exposure of COCs to DXR only during IVM was more detrimental to oocyte viability and blastocyst formation than A. oncocalyx and onco A.
Highlights
Cancer is a target of research for the development or discovery of new forms of treatments [1]
When the cumulusoocyte complexes (COCs) were exposed to the three tested drugs during in vitro maturation (IVM) (Figure 2), DXR, A. oncocalyx and Oncocalyxone A (onco A) treatments showed lower (P < 0.05) cleaved rates compared to control
This endpoint was higher in the onco A treatment than DXR and A. oncocalyx treatments
Summary
Cancer is a target of research for the development or discovery of new forms of treatments [1]. Oncocalyx (A. oncocalyx) is a common tree found in the state of Ceará in Northeast Brazil [5]. It has been widely used in folk medicine as an adjunctive treatment of injuries such as wounds and cuts [5, 6]. Some studies have suggested that this plant has biological activities such as analgesic, antioxidant, antitumor and anti-inflammatory effects [6,7,8,9]. Studies have suggested onco A as a possible anticancer compound since it presents antitumor and cytotoxic activity in human leukemia cells, and other cell cancer lines, without causing genotoxicity [11] las most anticancer drugs
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