Estimation of 6-Phosphogluconate Dehydrogenase (6PGD) Activity and Development of Fresh Bovine Embryos Derived from in Vitro Fertilization.

Abstract

To survey the relationship between metabolic activity and developmental ability of bovine embryos derived from in vitro fertilization, we modified an enzymatic cycling method inthe present study. We measured 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase activity (6PGD) in singlebovine embryos derived from in vitro fertilization in preimplantation stages and checked theirdevelopmental ability. When measured by adding 6-phosphogluconate as a substrate, 6PGD activi-ties were 62.8±9.2, 77.4±3.3, 103.4±6.8, 96.2±0.5 and 120.6±3.4 (×10-9 mol/embryo/h) in the 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, morula and blastocyst stage embryos, respectively, indicating significant differ-ences between groups at the 2-or 4-cell stages and blastocyst stage (P<0.05). In all cell stageembryos, the level of 6PGD activity increased by adding the substrate. When subsequent develop-ment was examined after measurement of 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell and morula stage embryos, thedevelopmental rate to blastocyst stage ranged from 18.8 to 61.0% and did not vary among the different stages.