Effect of zona pellucida removal on early development of in vitro produced bovine embryos

During early embryo development the zona pellucida acts as a barrier against polyspermia and guarantees communication between blastomeres before and during compaction. However, the development of new technologies of embryo production such as "Handmade Cloning" demands removal of this membrane. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of zona pellucida removal on in vitro bovine embryo development. First, the consequences of zona pellucida removal was assessed by comparing the percentage of first cleavage, percentage of blastocysts and cell number among zona-included and zona-free embryos; either through the removal of the zona pellucida immediately after IVF or parthenogenesis. Embryo development was also evaluated when zona pellucida was removed before parthenogenesis. In a second set of experiments, the gene expression levels of BAX, BCL2, CASP3, CDH1, OCT4 and SOX2 were evaluated in zona-free and zona-included IVF-derived embryos. No significant differences were found in the percentage of first cleavage, percentage of blastocyst and cell number on IVF-embryos cultured with or without zona. Parthenogenetic embryos followed the same general pattern even when the zona pellucida was eliminated before activation; however there was a significant increase in the rate of first cleavage when the zona pellucida was removed after activation but this did not impact upon further development. Furthermore, no significant differences in gene expression level were found between zona-free and zona-included IVF-embryos for the studied genes. We concluded that the lack of zona pellucida did not affect the early development when an appropriate system is used for embryo culture to ensure blastomeric contact and normal compaction.