Effects of pyruvate and dimethyl‐α‐ketoglutarate, either alone or in combination, on pre‐ and post‐implantation development of mouse zygotes cultured in vitro

Purpose Dimethyl α‐ketoglutarate (dm‐α‐KG) promotes in vitro development to blastocysts of C57BL/6J X C3He F1 mouse zygotes cultured in medium lacking pyruvate. Here, we examined the effects of pyruvate and dm‐α‐KG on in vitro development to blastocysts of ICR mouse zygotes and their post‐implantation developmental ability. Methods Zygotes were cultured in medium with pyruvate at 0‐0.2 mmol/L in the presence or absence of 1 mmol/L dm‐α‐KG for 96 hours and evaluated for blastocyst formation rates. The resultant blastocysts were non‐surgically transferred to surrogates and evaluated for birth rates. Results In medium lacking pyruvate, zygotes could not develop beyond the two‐cell stage, in the presence or absence of dm‐α‐KG. However, the blastocyst formation rate in medium with 0.01 mmol/L pyruvate (12%) was markedly increased with addition of dm‐α‐KG (49%). Around 80% of embryos developed to blastocysts in medium with 0.2 mmol/L pyruvate, in the presence or absence of dm‐α‐KG. Importantly, birth rate was markedly improved by treatment with 0.2 mmol/L pyruvate and dm‐αKG (31.0%), compared with those with pyruvate treatment alone (16.3%). Conclusions Pyruvate and dm‐α‐KG synergistically work during in vitro culture to markedly improve the blastocyst formation rate and post‐implantation developmental ability of the resultant blastocysts in ICR mice.