Use of Dibutyryl Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate in Sperm Capacitation for in vitro Production of Bovine Embryos

The opportunity to create a chemically defined system for bovine sperm in vitro capacitation has been performed. 100 µM dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate (dbcAMP) used as a capacitating agent instead of heparin 10 µg/mL solution was administered in a Tyrode’s protein-free medium for fertilization. In addition, the fertilization medium did not contain glucose or any sperm-activating additives. It has been proven for the first time that spermatozoa capacitated in the in vitro protein-free medium with the use of dbcAMP only are capable of highly efficient in vitro fertilization of the bovine oocytes, which were matured outside the body in a protein-free medium as well. Embryos developed to the 4- to 8-cell stage are chosen as criteria for normal fertilization.