The quality of oocytes declines by aging, resulting in their low competences for fertility. Here, resveratrol treatment showed increases in the rates of implantation and live offspring as well as decreases in the abortion rate as short as one week after treatment, although the number of ovulated oocytes and the rates of fertilization and blastocyst formation were not changed following resveratrol treatment. Resveratrol treatment did not cause abnormalities mouse estrous cycles and body weights. No abnormality was detected in both fetuses and placentas after 22 weeks of resveratrol treatment and the fetuses had normal fertility. Positive correlations were found between serum resveratrol levels and pregnancy and live offspring rates as well as ovarian expression levels of Sirt1, Sirt3, Sirt4, Sirt5, and Sirt7. The mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP content but not copy number of mitochondrial DNA in oocytes was increased in aging mice with resveratrol treatment. In conclusion, we demonstrated the restoration of oocyte quality in aging mice in addition to the prevention of their quality decline during aging by restoring mitochondrial functions by resveratrol treatment without adverse effects in the animals and their offspring.
Keywords: Sirtuin; age-associated infertility; mitochondria; oocyte quality; resveratrol.