1. Academic Validation
  2. 2-Mercaptoethanol promotes porcine oocyte maturation in vitro by maintaining autophagy homeostasis

2-Mercaptoethanol promotes porcine oocyte maturation in vitro by maintaining autophagy homeostasis

  • Theriogenology. 2022 Jul 1;186:155-167. doi: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2022.04.009.
Yaping Zhang 1 Qiqi Li 1 Wangchang Li 1 Ke Yan 1 Yaru Liu 1 Huiyan Xu 1 Mingsheng Jiang 2 Yangqing Lu 1 Xingwei Liang 1 Jianghua Shang 3 Xiaogan Yang 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530004, China; College of Animal Science & Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530004, China.
  • 2 College of Animal Science & Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530004, China.
  • 3 Buffalo Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science and Guangxi Zhuang Nationality Autonomous Region, Nanning, Guangxi, 530001, China. Electronic address: jh_shang@163.com.
  • 4 State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530004, China; College of Animal Science & Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530004, China. Electronic address: xgyang@gxu.edu.cn.
Abstract

2-Mercaptoethanol (2-ME) is often used as an antioxidant to optimize culture systems for in vitro oocyte maturation in livestock. However, the relationship between 2-ME and Autophagy has not yet been elucidated. In this study, we hypothesized that 2-ME can promote porcine oocyte maturation in vitro by maintaining Autophagy homeostasis. To test this hypothesis, we explored the effects of 2-ME on the maturation of porcine oocytes exposed to an Autophagy activator (rapamycin) or an Autophagy Inhibitor (3-methyladenine, i.e., 3-MA) in vitro. Rapamycin-induced Autophagy over-activation significantly increased autophagy- and apoptosis-related gene expression, oxidative stress, Apoptosis rates, abnormal mitochondrial redistribution, and significantly decreased oocyte first polar body extrusion (PBE) rates, spindle/chromosome integrity and developmental competence. 3-MA-mediated Autophagy inhibition exerted similar effects on all these parameters except the expression of genes that promote Autophagy and inhibit Apoptosis. Importantly, 2-ME supplementation significantly attenuated the detrimental effects of rapamycin and 3-MA. Interestingly, we observed that 44 h of coincubation with rapamycin/3-MA and 2-ME restored Autophagy homeostasis in vitro. In conclusion, our study confirmed that 2-ME promotes porcine oocyte maturation and embryo development in vitro by maintaining Autophagy homeostasis and lays a foundation for further research on the underlying mechanism.

Keywords

2-Mercaptoethanol; Autophagy disorders; In vitro maturation; Oocyte; Porcine; Protective effects.

Figures
Products