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β-carotene Improves Oocyte Development and Maturation Under Oxidative Stress in Vitro

β-carotene Improves Oocyte Development and Maturation Under Oxidative Stress in Vitro

Shuai Yu, Yong Zhao, Yanni Feng, Hongfu Zhang, Lan Li, Wei Shen, Minghui Zhao, Lingjiang Min

In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim. 2019 Aug;55(7):548-558.

PMID: 31313007

Abstract:

Recently, the mean maternal age at first birth has been continuing to increase. The decline in the age-related fertility is due to the reduction in the number and the quality of the oocyte. An elevation in intra-ovarian reactive oxygen species (ROS) is correlated with the increase in maternal age, and the oxidative stress is involved in the decline in oocyte quality. Although β-carotene, a very effective quencher of ROS, has been found to have the beneficial contribution to the ovarian development and steroidogenesis, it is unknown the effect of β-carotene on the oocyte development especially oocyte maturation. This investigation aimed to explore the beneficial contribution of β-carotene on oocyte maturation under oxidative stress and the underlying mechanism. We found that the oxidative stress induced by ROS reagent Rosup inhibited oocyte development/maturation and parthenogenetic activation which could be dramatically rescued by β-carotene (57.1 ± 4.7% vs 78.9 ± 3.8%; p < 0.05) in vitro. The underlying mechanisms include that β-carotene not only reduces ROS formation and cell apoptosis, but also it can restore actin expression, cortical granule-free domain (CGFD) formation, mitochondria homogeneous distribution, and nuclear maturation. The data suggest that β-carotene acts as a potential antioxidant in the oocyte. Therefore, the findings from this investigation provide the fundamental 7knowledge for using β-carotene as an antioxidant to improve the oocyte quality and even the ovarian function.

Chemicals Related in the Paper:

Catalog Number	Product Name	Structure	CAS Number	Price
AP7235407	β-Carotene		7235-40-7	Price

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