In vitro fertilization and embryonic development of post thawed buffalo oocytes vitrified with soybean lecithin

Current study was carried out to the evaluate the impact of addition of zero (control), 1, 2.5, 
5, 10% soybean lecithin to the vitrification solution media and its subsequent in vitro fertilization 
and embryo development of post-thawed immature and matured buffalo oocytes cryopreserved with 
stepwise vitrification. Although the addition of lecithin to the vitrification solution did not 
significantly affect in vitro fertilization(IVF) of both immature and mature oocytes, lecithin 
increased penetration and fertilization rates of immature (50.0 and 33.3%) and mature oocytes 
(52.6 and 36.8%) at the level of 5 and 2.5% respectively. Trials of embryo In Vitro culture(IVC) 
revealed that 2.5% addition of lecithin significantly improved (p<0.05) both blastocyst formation 
and total embryonic development (9.5 and 28.6% resp.) of vitrified-thawed mature oocyte than 
control ones after 7 days of culture. Similar insignificant trend was observed for vitrified-thawed 
immature oocytes at the level of 5% lecithin. Our results revealed that, soybean lecithin addition to 
vitrification solution might have a protective potential on vitrified buffalo oocytes after warming 
and their subsequent embryo development in vitro.