META-ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION OF FORSKOLIN DURING IN VITRO CULTURE OF BOVINE EMBRYOS AND ITS IMPLICATION ON CRYOPRESERVATION

Increased rates of embryonic re-expansion and implantation were reported after the use of forskolin during embryo culture, specially due to the reduction of intraplasmatic lipids, which brings improvement to cryopreservation. Thus, the aim of this meta-analysis was to compare the occurance of embryonic re-expansion among different studies that used forskolin on in vitro embryo production, and also match the results. It was considered five articles that assessed forskolin at the 2,5µM, 5,0µM and/or 10µM concentrations on embryo culture, in comparison to the control group (in vitro culture without forskolin). To compare the results of the articles Restricted Maximum Likelihood Method (REML) was applied; to identify the heterogeneity among the studies, the Q test was used, and, to quantify the heterogeneity between the studies I² statistics was employed. Based on the statistics analysis, it is inferred that embryos cultivated with forskolin at a 10µM concentration are 71% more likely to re-expand when compared to the control group, considering 95% confidence interval, between 27% and 132%. There was no statistically significant difference on the chance to suffer embryonic re-expansion when comparing the embryos treated with 5µM concentration forskolin and the control group, leading to the comprehension that 10µM concentration increases the quality of cryopreserved bovine embryos. Despite the results, more experiments are needed