Criopreservação de embriões de coelhas (Oryctolagus cuniculus) suplementadas com vitamina e e/ou selênio por via oral

Abstract

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of oral supplementation of vitamin E and/or selenium in the number of embryos and embryo quality before and after cryopreservation of superovulated female rabbits. The experiment was performed at the Cuniculture of Federal University of Bahia in the Reconcavo. A total of 24 adult female rabbits New Zealand, divided into four groups (G), consisting of superovulated females: G1: with administration of vitamin E and selenium; G2: with administration of 4.8mg of vitamin E; G3: with administration of 0.006mg selenium and G4: with administration of 4.8mg of vitamin E and 0,006mg of selenium. The supplementation period was 28 days before the superovulatory treatment. Superovulation was induced using 40UI of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) followed by the application of 40UI of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and 48 hours after both intramuscular (IM), the mating were performed soon after the hCG. The animals were euthanized and embryos collected 72 hours after copulation, evaluated and cryopreserved. The data were evaluated by ANOVA and was made the Tukey comparison test with SISVAR program. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) for weight of right ovary, weight of left ovary, gonadosomatic index (GSI), the number of recovered structures, embryo recovery rate, number of embryos, number of embryos degenerated and morphological quality of viable embryos. Thus, it was concluded that supplementation of 4.8mg of vitamin E and/or 0,006mg of selenium does not influence the superovulatory response and embryo quality before and after the process of embryo cryopreservation of New Zealand rabbits.