Effects of incubation temperature and bicarbonate on maturation of pig oocytes in vitro

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Abstract
Pig oocytes cultured at 39.degree. C had a higher percentage of polar body formation than did those cultured at 37.degree. C. A culture medium based on Medium 199 with Earle''s salts and supplemented with 15% serum from a young castrated boar was just as good as the same formulation containing additional pyruvate, lactate and insulin, and superior to a modified Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate medium. When the bicarconate buffer system (Earle''s salts) of Medium 199 was replcaed with a phosphate buffer system (Hank''s salts), the rate of polar body formation was decresed. When the Hank''s based medium was supplemented with a bicarbonate buffer system, polar body formation was restored to the level in Earle''s based medium. This suggests that CO2/bicarbonate may be important for the normal maturation of pig oocytes.