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Research Paper|Volume 14, Issue 7|pp 3191—3202

Epitalon protects against post-ovulatory aging-related damage of mouse oocytes in vitro

Xue Yue1,2,3, Sai-Li Liu3, Jia-Ni Guo3, Tie-Gang Meng3, Xin-Ran Zhang3, Hong-Xia Li2, Chun-Ying Song2, Zhen-Bo Wang3, Heide Schatten4, Qing-Yuan Sun5, Xing-Ping Guo1,2
  • 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Basic Medical College, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi, China
  • 2Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Reproductive Science Institute, Taiyuan 030032, Shanxi, China
  • 3State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
  • 4Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
  • 5Fertility Preservation Lab, Guangdong-Hong Kong Metabolism and Reproduction Joint Laboratory, Reproductive Medicine Center, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou 510320, Guangdong, China
Received: August 17, 2021Accepted: January 28, 2022Published: April 12, 2022
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.204007

Copyright: © 2022 Yue 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 developmental potential of oocytes decreases with time after ovulation in vivo or in vitro. Epitalon is a synthetic short peptide made of four amino acids (alanine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and glycine), based on a natural peptide called epithalamion extracted from the pineal gland. It is a potent antioxidant, comparable to melatonin, that may confer longevity benefits. The current study aims to test the protective effects of Epitalon on the quality of post-ovulatory aging oocytes. Epitalon at 0.1mM was added to the culture medium, and the quality of oocytes was evaluated at 6h, 12h, and 24h of culture. We found that 0.1mM Epitalon reduced intracellular reactive oxygen species. Epitalon treatment significantly decreased frequency of spindle defects and abnormal distribution of cortical granules during aging for 12h and 24h, while increased mitochondrial membrane potential and DNA copy number of mitochondria, thus decreasing apoptosis of oocytes by 24h of in vitro aging. Our results suggest that Epitalon can delay the aging process of oocytes in vitro via modulating mitochondrial activity and ROS levels.