Development of Oocytes and Preimplantation Embryos of Mice Fed Diet Supplemented with Dunaliella salina

The present study investigated the developmental competence of germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes and the resulting embryos upon dietary Dunaliella salina (DS) supplementation. Quality of GV oocytes and maturation, timing of zygotes cleavage to two-cell stage, quality of embryos and offspring number and weight were investigated of mice supplemented with DS (100g/kg ration; N=30) compared to control (N=30).Females were injected with 7.5 I.U. of equine chorionic gonadotropin (PMSG) followed by 7.5 I.U. of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) after 48h and mated with fertile male. Immature GV oocytes were harvested from ovaries after 48h of PMSG injection for investigating quality of oocyte, timing of breakdown of germinal vesicle (GVBD) and extrusion of first polar bodies and maturation rate (%).Zygotes were harvested from uterine tubes 29-30hafterhCG injection and followed for first cleavage whereas quality of blastocysts were evaluated after collection from uterine horn at96h of hCG. Improvement of oocyte quality has been indicated in DS group whereas GVBD and maturation rate were not differed between DS and control groups. Although D. salina did not change timing of first cleavage of zygotes, blastocysts’ quality were significantly (P<0.05) increased in DS group. Furthermore, offspring number (9.9 ± 0.26 & 8.2 ± 0.30) and weight (12.01 ± 0.31 & 9.84 ± 0.37) at birth were increased significantly (P<0.05) in the DS group compared to control one. In conclusion, supplementation of D. salina could increase reproductive performance through improvement quality of germinal vesicle oocytes and preimplantation embryos.