G.N. Singina, V.A. Bagirov, B.S. Iolchiev, T.E. Taradainic, V.V. Konnova, E.V. Tsyndrina
L.K. Ernst All-Russian Research Institute of Animal Husbandry, pos. Dubrovitsy, 60, Podol’skii r-n, Moskovskaya obl., 142132, Russian Federation
Abstract. Extracorporal fertilization is the most appropriate forecast method for sperm fertility of animals since this procedure evaluates the result of the sperm-egg interaction. For European bison (Bison bonasus), also known as a wisent, due to a small number of species available and the inability of oocyte source, homologous in vitro test is not possible, and the conditions of interspecies fertilization with using cattle oocytes are not determined. The aim of the present work was to study the dependence of cattle-wisent fertilization from the concentration of heparin in their interaction medium and on the age peculiarities of males. The experiments (3–4 replications) were conducted at L.K. Ernst All-Russian Research Institute of Animal Husbandry from 2016 to 2017. Frozen epididymal sperm of five wisents (3 wisents of 5–7 years old, 1 wisent of 13 years old and 1 wisent of 17 years old) was thawed and prepared by the swim-up procedure. Matured cows’ oocytes were co-incubated during 18 h together with sperm in Fert-Talp medium, containing 2.5–10 microg/ml of heparin, after then oocytes were replaced in embryos medium and cultured until the blastocyst stage. Fertilizing capacity of male cells was assessed according to interactions between initial sex cells, as well as the capacity of fertilized cows’ oocytes to subsequent early embryonic development. Epididymal semen from wisents older than 13 years had reliably lower in vitro fertilizing ability than the sperm of young wisent. The results of interspecific fertilization using oocytes from cows and sperm of young bison depended on the concentration of heparin. Its content in the fertilization medium, equal to 10 microg/ml, resulted in a high level of polyspermy (27.1 ± 0.4%) and a low number of nuclei in embryos (64.8 ± 3.0). Reduction of heparin concentration to 2.5 microg/ml improved these indicators to 13.4 ± 1.9% and 84.0 ± 4.4, respectively, and allowed to optimize the in vitro fertilization protocol.
Keywords: cows’ oocytes, sperm of European bison, in vitro fertilization.
Author Details: G.N. Singina, Cand. Sc. (Biol.), head of laboratory (e-mail: Этот адрес электронной почты защищён от спам-ботов. У вас должен быть включен JavaScript для просмотра.); V.A. Bagirov, D. Sc. (Biol.), corresponding member of the RAS, chief research fellow; B.S. Iolchiev, D. Sc. (Biol.), chief research fellow; T.E. Taradainic, Cand. Sc. (Biol.), leading research fellow; V.V. Konnova, junior research fellow; E.V. Tsyndrina, lab. assist.
For citation: Singina G.N., Bagirov V.A., Iolchiev B.S., Taradainic T.E., Konnova V.V., Tsyndrina E.V. Investigation of Factors Affecting the Success of Interspecies Fertilization of Cattle Oocytes by European Bison Sperm In Vitro. Dostizheniya nauki i tekhniki APK. 2017. Vol. 31. No. 10. Pp.62-65 (in Russ.).