Effect of human chorionic gonadotropin on oocyte maturation and developmental competence in buffalo.

We hypothesized that human chorionic gonadotropic (hCG) could replace LH in the maturation media for buffalo oocytes, and hCG administration before ovum pick-up (OPU) enhances in-vitro development of buffalo oocytes. Objectives were 1) to investigate the effect of hCG supplementation on nuclear maturation, oocyte development, and granulosa cell mRNA abundance of genes related to growth and antioxidant pathways and 2) to determine the effect of hCG administration before OPU on in-vitro oocyte development. In Experiment 1, buffalo oocytes retrieved from slaughterhouse ovaries were maturated in the media supplemented with 0.