Bovine and swine parthenots generating through electrical stimultion of the oocytes

Abstract

Electrical stimulation is an alternative to chemical activation to induce 𝐶𝐶𝑎𝑎2+ influx, responsible for the formation of pores in the cellular membrane. In order to activate the oocytes, electrical stimulation (E.S.) was performed on 30 oocytes derived from gilts (L1), sows (L2), heifers (L3) and cows (L4). We considered that the stage of development of four cells is eloquent for certifying the ES's division triggering and the results we are considering only refer to these parthenots. Following application of ES, oocyte activation occurred as follows: 6.6% at L1, 16.6% at L2, 20% at L3 and 46.6% at L4. It is obvious the higher maturation rate of oocytes from adult females as compared to young females (16.6% in sows versus 6.6% in gilts and 46.6% in cows versus 20% in heifers). The method of electrical stimulation of oocytes in the fusion chamber used in this paper is effective for activating the division in both bovine and swine oocytes. Activation of oocyte division following electrical stimulation is clearly superior when using oocytes from adult females. The electrical stimulation method used generated the upper division activation in cattle compared with the results obtained using swine oocytes.