Determination of pentose phosphate and Embden-Meyerhof pathway activities in bovine embryos

Quantitative determination was made of the activity of pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) and Embden-Meyerhof pathway (EMP) in individual bovine embryos from the six-cell to the hatched blastocyst stage. Embryos were collected from superovulated cross-bred heifers and classified into good and poor categories. A single embryo in 1 microl of medium was mixed with 2 microl of medium containing 3 to 30 nCi radiolabeled glucose previously placed on a detached lid of the 1.5-ml polypropylene microcentrifugé vial. The lid was then fitted to its vial which had been loaded in advance with 1.5 ml of 0.1 N NaOH. Vials were then incubated at 37 degrees C for 3 h. At the end of the incubation period, a 1.5-ml NaOH trap was inverted and placed into a 20-ml scintillation vial containing 10 ml of aqueous counting solution and counted in a liquid scintillation spectrophotometer. The PPP activity in good-quality embryos was greatest at the six-cell stage and decreased with increasing embryo development. The EMP activity showed the reverse trend. Poor- quality embryos had a lower glucose metabolism and higher PPP activity. Similar measurements were made on embryos following 24 h of culture, and total glucose metabolism and percentage of PPP activity were increased. In conclusion, these data suggest that in good quality bovine embryos total glucose utilization is low until 16-cell stage, with PPP being the predominant pathway. Total glucose utilization increases significantly at the morula stage; EMP activity increases with increasing embryo development; and PPP activity increases significantly in poor quality embryos and in embryos 24 h in culture.