Pregnancies and live birth from in vitro fertilization of calf oocytes collected by laparoscopic follicular aspiration

Abstract

Oocytes were recovered by laparoscopic aspiration from 3- to 8-week-old calves treated with follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) followed by human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to induce follicular growth and oocyte maturation in vivo. Most of the recovered oocytes either had resumed meiotic maturation at the time of aspiration or were competent to undergo maturation during subsequent culture in vitro. Oocytes matured in vivo following FSH and hCG treatment underwent in vitro fertilization (70%) at rates not significantly different from those of control oocytes recovered from adult cow ovaries at abattoirs and matured in vitro (75%). Calf oocytes that were immature at aspiration exhibited lower fertilization rates after in vitro maturation (36%) but their rate of development to morulae and blastocysts did not differ from that of mature oocytes at aspiration. A total of 91% of the zygotes produced from calf oocytes developed to morula and 27% to blastocyst stages during 6 days of culture. The proportion developing to morulae was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that observed for zygotes resulting from in vitro maturation and fertilization of oocytes recovered from cow ovaries obtained at an abattoir and processed concomitantly (59% to morulae and 18% to blastocysts). Morulae or blastocysts developed from oocytes from 5 to 6-week-old calves, when transferred to synchronized recipient heifers, resulted in 2 confirmed pregnancies, one of which produced a single full-term live calf. The ability to produce embryos from oocytes recovered from newborn or prepubertal calves offers the potential for markedly reducing the generation interval in cattle, thereby substantially accelerating the rate of genetic gain that can be achieved through embryo transfer.