UCL
Université
Catholique
Cryopreservation of bovine oocytes and
embryos
de Louvain
Senior
scientists :
Franz DESSY
dessy@vete.ucl.ac.be
Tel (32)10 47 37 01
Isabelle DONNAY
André MOENS
Anne-Sophie
LEQUARRE
donnay@vete.ucl.ac.be Tel (32)10 47 87 48
moens@vete.ucl.ac.be Tel (32)10 47 37 61
lequarre@vete.ucl.ac.be Tel (32)10 47 37 57
STAFF
KEY WORDS FOR R&D
Total : 19
Mammalian oocyte maturation
Embryo metabolism and kinetics
Embryo micromanipulations
Genetic sorting of bovine embryos
Embryo and oocyte cryopreservation
Bovine Ovum Pick Up
Investigators : 12
RESEARCH FIELD AND SUBJECTS
The in vitro production and storage of gametes and embryos with high compe-tence
to development is the key of success for several technologies including trans-genesis
and assisted reproduction. It is part of research programmes involved in preservation of genetic diversity, in production of high value added products, in farm animal
breeding
and
in
toxicology-teratology.
One of the limiting factors to a wider use of biotechnologies involving embryos are
the poor resistance of oocytes and in vitro pro-duced embryos to cryopreservation.
Three
approaches
are
used
:
i. understand the specificity of in vitro produced bovine embryos to improve their
quality
;
ii. evaluate the damages induced by cryo-preservation on bovine oocytes and
embryos
;
iii. set up improved cryopreservation pro-cedures.
Among the research projects are :
i. the development of a culture system for oocytes mimicking the in vivo situation and
allowing them to acquire full de-velopmental competence ;
ii. the investigation of the links between embryo metabolism, kinetics of development, oxidative stress and sensitivity to chilling or freezing ;
iii. the development of new techniques for the cryopreservation of bovine oocytes and
embryos ;
iv. the sorting of bovine embryos on the basis of their genotype before transfer in
foster mothers.
Results of those research are directly applied in our Ovum Pick-Up Centre developed
in collaboration with belgian bovine breeding associations.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
ART center fot cattle breeders (assisted re-production techniques) In vitro production
of bovine embryos for fundamental and applied research Genetic sorting of bovine
embryos (in de-velopement)
MAIN EQUIPMENT
Complete equipement for cell and embryo culture (bovine, rabbit, mice, rat)
Computer controlled Time lapse video re-cording system
Microfluorimeter Farm facilities (cattle, sheep, pig)
Controlled freeze machine
Access to PCR equipment and gene se-quencing
Access to confocal microscopy
REPRESENTATIVE REFERENCES
MASSIP A., MERMILLOD P. & DINNYES A. Morphology and biochemistry of in vitroproduced bovine em-bryos: implications for their cryopreservation. Human Reprod,
1995, 10, 3004-3011.
DONNAY I., DE ROOVER R., VAN LANGENDONCKT A., AUQUIER P.,
BOMBAERTS P., KINNNAR T., SCHUUR-BIERS N., MASSIP A., ET DESSY F.
Production d'em-bryons bovins in vitro à partir d'ovocytes prélevés sur vaches
vivantes par ponction échoguidée - premiers résultats. Annales de Médecine
vétérinaire, 1996, 140, 283-291.
LEQUARRÉ A.S., GRISART B., MOREAU B., SCHUUR-BIERS N., MASSIP A. &
DESSY F. Glucose metabolism during bovine preimplantation development: analysis
of gene expression in single oocytes and embryos, Mol. Reprod. Dev. 1997;48: 216226.
VAN LANGENDONCKT A., DONNAY I., SCHUURBIERS N., CAROLAN C., MASSIP
A., DESSY F. Developmental kinetics of bovine embryos in synthetic oviduct fluid
medium: Effects of fetal calf serum supplementation. J . Reprod. Fertil., 1997, 109,
87-93.
DONNAY I., AUQUIER PH., KAIDI S., CAROLAN C., LONERGAN P., MERMILLOD
P. AND MASSIP A. Vitrifi-cation of in vitro produced bovine blastocysts: methodological studies and developmental capacity. Anim. Reprod. Sci., 1998, 52, 93104.
KAIDI S., VAN LANGENDONCKT A., MASSIP A., DESSY F., DONNAY I. Double
staining for assessing cellular alterations of bovine in vitro produced blastocysts
during a vitrification procedure. Theriogenology, 1999, 52, 515-525.
DONNAY I., PARTRIDGE R.J. AND LEESE H.J. Can em-bryo metabolism be used
for selecting bovine embryos before transfer? Reprod Nutr Dev, 1999, 39, 523-533.
MAJERUS V., A.-S. LEQUARRE, FERGUSON E.-M., KAIDI S., MASSIP A., DESSY
F.. DONNAY I. Charac-terisation of embryos derived from calf oocytes: kinet-ics of
cleavage, cell allocation to inner cell mass and trophectoderm and lipid metabolism,
Mol Reprod Dev, 2000, 57, 346-352.
LEQUARRÉ AS., FEUGANG JM, MALHOMME O., DONNAY I., MASSIP A., DESSY
F. E AND VAN LAN-GENDONCKT A. Expression of Cu-Zn and Mn superox-ide
dismutases during bovine embryo development. Mol Reprod Dev, 2000, 48, 45-53.
KAIDI S, DONNAY I, LAMBERT P, DESSY F AND MAS-SIP A. Osmotic behavior of
in vitro produced bovine blastocysts in cryoprotectant solutions as a potential
predictive test of survival. Cryobiology, 2000, 41: 106-115.
KAIDI S, BERNARD S, LAMBERT P, MASSIP A AND DONNAY I. Effect of
conventional controlled-rate freezing and vitrification on quality of bovine blasto-cysts
produced in vitro. Biol Reprod, accepté pour publication
FEUGANG JM, VAN LANGENDONCKT A, REES JF, PAMPFER S, DESSY F,
DONNAY I. Delayed degenera-tion of bovine blastocysts induced by endogenous or
exogenous oxidative stress: prevention by trolox or ß-mercaptoethanol. Biol Reprod,
soumis pour publica-tion
AWARDS
MASSIP A. Pioneer Award 1999 from the European Embryo Transfer Society