IN-VITRO MATURATION OF FOLLICULAR OOCYTES OF THE GIANT PANDA (AILUROPODA-MELANOLEUCA) - A CASE-REPORT

The Giant Panda is an endangered species that would benefit from biote chnological assistance in reproduction. However, because there are onl y a few of these animals left in the world, scientists hesitate to use them for research procedures. We were fortunate to obtain ovaries fro m a Giant Panda that died of hepatic cirrhosis during the nonbreeding season. Oocytes were harvested within 4 h of death by dissecting the o varian cortex in physiological saline and collecting the cumulus-oocyt e complexes from the fluid, and then were classified into large (>125 mu m) and small (100 to 124 mu m) follicular oocytes and placed in TCM 199 supplemented with FSH (10 mu g/mL) and LH (20 mu g/mL). After cult ure for 22 h at 37 degrees C in air with 5% CO2, response was evaluate d by growth of oocytes and presence of the first polar body. Of the 26 large follicular oocytes that were harvested, 12 were considered suit able for IVM, and 14 were degenerated, had a broken zona pellucida or had lost some cytoplasm. Of the 12 cultured oocytes, all grew to a mea n diameter of 141.1(SD= +/-6.7, n = 12), and 4 released the first pola r body. None of the small follicular oocytes showed growth or other si gns of maturation. We conclude from our preliminary results that it is possible to obtain functional Giant Panda oocytes from ovaries obtain ed post mortem during the nonbreeding season. (C) 1998 by Elsevier Sci ence Inc.