α-Ketoglutarate improves the development of vitrified-warmed bovine embryos by alleviating oxidative stress

The results revealed that vitrification and thawing markedly increased oxidative stress and apoptosis levels, while decreasing the survival rate, hatching rate, mitochondrial activity, and the ratio of ICM/TE cells in blastocysts. Supplementation with 25 μM AKG effectively alleviated oxidative stress, apoptosis, and increased the survival rate, hatching rate, mitochondrial activity as well as the ratio of ICM/TE. Single-cell RNA sequencing also showed that AKG treatment induced significant alterations in pathways associated with oxidative stress, apoptosis, mitochondrial function, and lipid metabolism in vitrified-warmed blastocysts.

Collectively, these findings demonstrate that AKG improves the quality and developmental competence of vitrified-thawed bovine blastocysts by regulating oxidative stress. This study provides a theoretical basis for optimizing embryo vitrification-warming protocols, enhancing the utilization efficiency of vitrified embryos, and improving cattle reproductive performance.