Effect of Amphiregulin, Neuregulin-I and Tumour Necrosis Factor-a on Growth of Ovine Preantral Follicle and Oocyte in Vitro

A study was conducted to observe the effects of different concentrations and combination of amphiregulin (AREG)/neuregulin-I (NRG-I)/tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF- α) on the development of ovine preantral follicles (PFs) and oocyte enclosed in PFs. Totally 1589 PFs were isolated from 215 ovaries collected from civil slaughterhouse, Bengaluru. The PFs were cultured in 100 μl droplets of culture medium supplemented with different concentrations viz., 0 (control), 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 150 ng of either AREG or NRG-I or TNF-α and their optimum dose combination in a carbon dioxide incubator (38° C, 5% CO2 in air, 90 to 95% relative humidity). Significant (p<0.05) increase in the growth rate of PFs and oocytes were observed on culturing with AREG and NRG-I at 100 and 150 ng, TNF-α at 5 and 10 ng and with combination of AREG+NRG-I and AREG+NRG-I+TNF-α. It was concluded that addition of AREG (100ng), NRG-1 (100ng), TNF-α (10ng) and combinations of AREG+NRG-I and AREG+NRG-I+ TNF-α groups supported maximum growth of PFs and oocytes in-vitro.