Summary
This
study was conducted to produce buffalo embryos in vitro from stepwise
vitrified immature oocytes. Cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) were
obtained from the ovaries of slaughtered buffalo and were collected
from the local abattoir. Selected COCs were exposed to a vitrification
solution consisting of 40% ethylene glycol (EG) plus 0.3 M trehalose
and 20% polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) for 1 min and loaded in 0.25
ml plastic mini-straws containing 100 µl of 10% sucrose. The loaded
cryostraws were cryopreserved by stepwise vitrification and were
stored in liquid nitrogen for 4 to 6 months. Data analysis revealed
a high percentage of post-thawing morphologically normal immature
oocytes (80.7%) with a low percentage of damaged oocytes. There
were no significant differences in the maturation (82.1%), cleavage
(47.6%) and buffalo embryo development (15.4%) produced by the stepwise
vitrified immature oocytes in comparison to the three observations
in fresh oocytes (88.3%, 50.4% and 19.4%, respectively, p<0.05).
Keywords
Buffalo,
Egypt, Embryo, Oocyte, Vitrification. |