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Research Paper|Volume 13, Issue 3|pp 3353—3367

Asiatic acid protects oocytes against in vitro aging-induced deterioration and improves subsequent embryonic development in pigs

Wei-Yi Hu1, Xiao Xia Li2,3, Yun Fei Diao2,3, Jia-Jia Qi1, Da-Li Wang1, Jia-Bao Zhang1, Bo-Xing Sun1, Shuang Liang1
  • 1Department of Animals Sciences, College of Animal Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China
  • 2College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agriculture Science and Technology University, Changchun, China
  • 3Jilin Province Key Laboratory of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Jilin Agriculture Science and Technology University, Changchun, China
* Equal contribution
Received: June 11, 2020Accepted: August 31, 2020Published: December 3, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202184

Copyright: © 2020 Hu 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

As a pentacyclic triterpene in Centella asiatica, asiatic acid (AA) is a powerful antioxidant with many bioactivities. In the present research, we investigated whether AA has the potential to rescue the decrease in porcine oocyte quality that occurs during in vitro aging (IVA). Mature porcine oocytes were collected and then continuously cultured for an additional 24 h or 48 h with or without AA in maturation medium as an IVA model. The results revealed that AA supplementation reduced the percentage of abnormal aged porcine oocytes during IVA. Furthermore, AA supplementation effectively maintained aged porcine oocyte developmental competence, both parthenogenetic activation and in vitro fertilization. The number of sperm that bound to the zona pellucida on aged porcine oocytes was higher in the AA-supplemented group than in the non-supplemented group. Moreover, AA supplementation not only blocked IVA-induced oxidative stress but also maintained intracellular GSH levels and reduced the percentage of early apoptosis aged porcine oocytes. Mitochondrial functions were disordered during the IVA process. The intracellular ATP levels and mitochondrial membrane potential in aged porcine oocytes were dramatically increased by AA supplementation. Therefore, AA has beneficial effects on porcine oocyte quality and developmental potential maintenance during IVA.