In Vitro Culture of Mouse Preantral Follicle in Supplemented Medium with Bone Morphogenetic Protein 15 (BMP15)

Background: BMD-15 is a member of the superfamily of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), which has a determinant role in fertility. This protein is essential for the development of ovarian follicles and acts mainly by binding to its receptor on the surface of granulosa cells. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of BMP-15 on in vitro ovarian follicle growth and embryo development. Methods: In this study, preantral follicles were isolated mechanically from 12 days NMRI mouse ovaries, then the follicles were cultured in basic growth medium enriched by FBS, FSH, and ITS and BMP-15-enriched for 12 days. During the culture, survival rate and follicular maturation, follicular diameter, level of estrogen, and progesterone secretion and embryo developmental rate were evaluated. Results: The results of this study showed that the percentage of antral follicles, maturation rate and hormone levels and the diameter of follicles was significantly higher in BMP-15 supplemented media in comparison to basic media. Embryo development was also higher at BMP-15 enriched group in comparison to the group of follicles, which were grown in the basic culture media. Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that supplemented media with BMP-15 to the ovarian preantral follicle culture enhances the in vitro growth of follicle embryo development.