Research Paper|Volume 11, Issue 7|pp 2020—2030

N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) delays post-ovulatory oocyte aging in mouse

Yue Wang^1,², Li Li^1,², Li-Hua Fan^1,², Ying Jing^1,², Jian Li^1,³, Ying-Chun Ouyang¹, Zhen-Bo Wang^1,², Yi Hou¹, Qing-Yuan Sun^1,²

¹State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
²University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
³Department of Reproductive Medicine, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen Peking University-The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medical Center, Shenzhen, China

Received: June 20, 2018Accepted: March 31, 2019Published: April 12, 2019

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.101898

Copyright: Wang et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

The quality of post-ovulatory oocytes decreases with aging. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), a broadly used antioxidant, on oocyte quality in mouse post-ovulatory oocyte aging in vitro. NAC at 0.6mM concentration was added to culture medium (M2), and the quality of oocytes was analyzed at 6h, 12h, 18h and 24h of culture. We found that the frequency of spindle defects decreased in NAC-treated oocytes compared to those without NAC treatment. NAC treatment significantly decreased abnormal distribution of cortical granules (CGs) in oocytes during aging for 18h and 24h. Decreased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was also observed. Increased intracellular ATP levels and decreased abnormal distribution of mitochondria could be observed with NAC supplementation during post-ovulatory oocyte aging in vitro. These results indicate that NAC will maintain the quality of oocytes, and delay post-ovulatory oocyte aging as studied in the mouse.