Relationship between time post-ovulation and progesterone on oocyte maturation and pregnancy in canine cloning

- Observation of the distribution of meiotic maturation state in canids after ovulation.
- Highest number of mature oocytes collected from oocyte donors with serum progesterone concentrations of 40-50 ng mL−1.
- Serum progesterone levels of oocyte donors and surrogates may be used to estimate oocyte quality and determine pregnancy rate potential at the time of oocyte collection and embryo transfer.

Canine oocytes ovulated at prophase complete meiosis and continue to develop in presence of a high progesterone concentration in the oviduct. Considering that meiotic competence of canine oocyte is accomplished in the oviductal environment, we postulate that hormonal milieu resulting from the circulating progesterone concentration may affect oocyte maturation and early development of embryos. From 237 oocyte donors, 2620 oocytes were collected and their meiotic status and morphology were determined. To determine optimal characteristics of the mature oocytes subjected to nuclear transfer, a proportion of the meiotic status of the oocytes were classified in reference to time post-ovulation as well as progesterone (P4) level. A high proportion of matured oocytes were collected from >126 h (55.5%) post-ovulation or 40-50 ng mL−1 (46.4%) group compared to the other groups. Of the oocyte donors that provided mature oocytes in vivo, there was no correlation between serum progesterone of donors and time post ovulation, however, time post-ovulation were significantly shorter for <30 ng/mL group (P < 0.05). Using mature oocytes, 1161 cloned embryos were reconstructed and transferred into 77 surrogates. In order to determine the relationship between pregnancy performance and serum progesterone level, embryos were transferred into surrogates showing various P4 serum levels. The highest pregnancy (31.8%) and live birth cloning efficacy (2.2%) rates were observed when the embryos were transferred into surrogates with circulating P4 levels were from 40 to 50 ng mL−1. In conclusion, measurement of circulating progesterone of female dog could be a suitable an indicator of the optimal time to collect quality oocyte and to select surrogates for cloning.