Effect of kisspeptin on In vitro maturation of buffalo oocytes

To explore the effect of kisspeptin on in vitro maturation of buffalo oocytes under different hormonal combinations. For the present study, Kp@10 μg/ml was selected as optimum by assessing the proportion of Cumulus Cell Expansion (CCE) and extrusion of 1st polar body (PB) from the earlier study conducted. Media containing TCM 199 (supplemented with Gentamicin) and oocytes were used as control. Overall, oocytes were allowed to mature in 12 different maturation media viz., Control (T₁), Kp at 10 μg/ml (T₂), FSH alone (T₃), FSH +Kp (T₄), LH (T₅), LH +Kp (T₆), E₂ (T₇), E₂+Kp (T₈), FSH+LH+E₂ (T₉), FSH+LH+E₂+Kp (T₁₀), FSH+LH+E₂+FCS+BSA (T₁₁) and FSH+LH+E₂+FCS+BSA+Kp (T₁₂), incubated at 38.5°C and 5% CO₂ under humidified atmosphere for 22 hours. The results showed significantly (P≤0.5) higher percentages of CCE and PB in groups supplemented with Kp (T₄, T₆, T₈, T₁₀ and T₁₂) compared to control (T₁) and other treatment groups supplemented with individual hormones either alone (T₃, T₅ and T₇) or combination of hormones (T₉) and IVM alone (T₁₁). Therefore, it has been clearly demonstrated that addition of Kp (10 μg/ml) to FSH, LH, E₂ supplemented media, in various combinations enhances buffalo oocyte maturation rates in vitro.