In Vitro Oocyte Maturation Rate of Mice with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome in the Presence of α-Linolenic Acid Antioxidant

One of the most common endocrine and metabolic disorders is Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which has been reported in about 10% of women during the reproductive age.

This study was designed to investigate the efficiency of α-Linolenic acid (ALA) on in vitro maturation (IVM) and the quality of mouse oocytes with PCOS.

Female NMRI mice (30 - 35 day-old) were developed by the injection of 4 mg estradiol valerate dissolved in 0.2 mg sesame oil for 60 consecutive days. In the following, the PCOS ovaries were dissected and oocytes were cultured in the maturation medium supplemented with different dosages of α-linolenic acid (0, 50, 100 µM). The presence of the first polar body was considered the sign of the nuclear maturation of the oocyte. The expression of mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) gene in mature oocytes was investigated by Quantitative Real-time PCR.

The in vitro maturation and TFAM gene expression rates of PCOS oocytes in the medium treated with 50 µM of ALA (84 ± 7.9 and 0.46 ± 0.09, respectively) were significantly higher than the control group (P < 0.05).

The ALA could improve the IVM rate and quality of PCOS oocytes by higher expression of TFAM gene.