The present study was designed to define the impact of l-carnitine, supplemented during maturation, on bovine oocytes with different meiotic competence in terms of their IVF outcomes. Meiotically more competent (MMC) and less competent (MLC) oocytes were obtained separately from differently sized follicles at selected phases of folliculogenesis. The oocytes were matured with or without l-carnitine, fertilized and cultured to the blastocyst stage. The oocytes were examined for nuclear maturation, mitochondrial cluster formation, lipid consumption, fertilization and embryo development. The proportion of oocytes at metaphase II was significantly higher in the l-carnitine-treated MMC than that in the l-carnitine-treated MLC oocytes. However in comparison with the untreated controls, the proportion of MII oocytes with mitochondrial clusters was significantly higher only in the l-carnitine-treated MLC oocytes, which also showed a significantly lower mean lipid content. The l-carnitine-treated MLC oocytes showed significantly higher fertilization and syngamy rates than the untreated MLC oocytes. On the other hand, in the l-carnitine-treated MMC oocytes, the fertilization rate was similar to that of the untreated controls and the syngamy rate was significantly delayed. Although no significant differences in cleavage on Day 2 were found among all oocyte categories, l-carnitine treatment resulted in a significantly higher blastocyst yield in the MLC oocytes on Day 7 and Day 8 and a significantly higher proportion of expanded blastocysts in relation to the total number of blastocysts in MMC oocytes on Day 8. It can be concluded that l-carnitine supplementation during maturation improves the development of bovine embryos from meiotically less competent oocytes and accelerates blastocyst formation from more competent oocytes.
Keywords: Blastocyst differentiation; Bovine oocytes; Embryo development; Maturation; Meiotic competence; l-carnitine.
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