Nutritional impact on gene expression and competence of oocytes used to support embryo development and livebirth by cloning procedures in goats

Changes in the nutritional plan have been shown to affect oocyte quality, crucial to oocyte donors animals used in cloning. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of diets with increasing nutritional levels (maintenance diet = M; 1.3 M; 1.6 M; 1.9 M) fed to goats for four weeks on follicular fluid composition, gene expression and oocyte competence used to cloning in goats. Donor females were superovulated for the retrieval of matured oocytes and physical measurements reported. After four weeks, groups receiving diets above maintenance increased thickness of subcutaneous adipose tissue and body weight, with higher values in 1.9 M Group (P < 0.05). Treatments did not affect follicular density, number of aspirated follicles, retrieved and matured oocytes. Animals from 1.3 M group had lower (P < 0.05) maturation rate (44.0%) and number of viable oocytes (65.3%) than M (68.8%) and 1.9 M (76.0%). Follicular fluid glucose concentrations increased with nutritional levels (P = 0.010), with a difference (P < 0.05) between groups 1.9 M (11.4 ± 2.6 mg/dL) and M (2.6 ± 0.5 mg/dL). The diet did not affect the expression of GDF9, BMP15, and BAX genes in oocytes, but BCL2 and apoptotic index were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the 1.3 M and 1.6 M groups than the other groups. Following the transfer of cloned embryos, one fetus was born live of a twin pregnancy in the 1.9 M Group. The association between energy intake and oocyte quality suggests better nutritional use by oocytes when the maximum flow was used (1.9 M), but the optimal feeding level in cloning still needs refinement.