Use of fetuin before and during vitrification of bovine oocytes

After vitrification of oocytes, fertilization rates and subsequent development are unsatisfactory, possibly due in part to zona hardening. Foetal calf serum (FCS) can prevent zona hardening because of its fetuin content, but FCS composition varies among batches, and may contain viruses. In this study, we therefore compared media supplemented with different sources of macromolecules, 2% bovine serum albumin (BSA), 2% BSA + 1 mg/ml fetuin and 20% FCS, for handling oocytes for 10-30 min prior to vitrification. None of the treatments resulted in developmental rates comparable with the non-vitrified controls, but FCS inclusion in pre-vitrification handling medium resulted in higher blastocyst production per oocyte (p < 0.05) (10.8%) on day 9 of culture than BSA (5.3%) or BSA + fetuin (6.4%). Blastocysts developing from oocytes from all vitrification treatments were somewhat retarded relative to those developed from non-vitrified oocytes. We also tested the use of fetuin during vitrification as well as two different exposure times with cryoprotectants, 180 and 30 s. There was no significant effect of fetuin or exposure time on rates of subsequent blastocyst production.