Parthenogenetic activation of zona-free ovine oocytes

In this research the effects of two activation methods and different doses of activators on zona-intact and zona-free oocytes parthenogenetic development were compared to establish a simple nuclear transfer procedure. Zona-free oocytes were treated with 2.5μmol/L ionomycin and 2mmol/L 6-DMAP for the parthenogenetic activation,respectively,the rate of cleavage was 78.9%,and the development rate to blastocysts was 13.7%.Zona-intact oocytes were treated with 5μmol/L ionomycin and 2mmol/L 6-DMAP,respectively,and the rate of cleavage was 88.5% and the development rate to blastocysts was 14.7%.Zona-intact and zona-free oocytes cultured in WOWs were treated with 5μmol/L ionomycin and 6-DMAP for parthenogenetic activation,and the rates of cleavage were 70.4% and 69.2%,respectively.Zona-intact and zona-free oocytes were treated with 7% ethanol and 6-DMAP for parthenogenetic activation,and the rates of cleavage were 33.3% and 23.0%,respectively.The cleavage rates of oocytes treated with ionomycin were significant high than that with 7% ethanol.The results indicated that cleavage rate was not affected by zona-intact or zona-free of oocytes,but the cleavage oocytes cultured in WOWs did not develop to blastocyst.