95% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Reproduction - Theriogenology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1552045
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring 'Omic' Biomarkers in Animal Production and Reproduction View all 9 articles
Candidate blood biomarkers identification through Metabolomics analysis in bovine Superovulation
Provisionally accepted
Xiaohu Su 1*
Guangqi Gao 2
Liqiang Chen 1 Liguo Zhang 3 Guangnan Liu 3 Chao Bian 4 Guanghua Su 1 Lei Yang 1- 1 Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
- 2 Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
- 3 Ulanqab Animal Husbandry Workstation, Ulanqab, China
- 4 Inner Mongolia People's Hospital, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
The superovulation and embryo transfer technology provides potent support for the improvement of cattle population productivity. The non-invasive diagnostic method for superovulation prediction is necessary to improve the efficiency. Compared with macromolecular substances, there were an increasing number of studies on small molecular metabolites as biomarkers. The aim of study was to identify key biomarkers associated with superovulation outcome in cows by serum metabolomics analysis.In this study, 36 induced estrus cows were selected and the blood samples were collected at the times of before FSH injection, before artificial insemination and before embryo collection. Then high embryonic yield (HEY) and low embryonic yield (LEY) groups were classified based on total embryonic number. And the serum untargeted metabolomics analysis of two groups was processed through LC-MS/MS.In total, 497 embryos were collected. The metabolomics analysis showed that 1158 metabolites were detected and 617 were annotated. In the sampling of before FSH injection, 121 differential metabolites were identified between two groups. In the sampling of before artificial insemination, 129 differential metabolites were identified. In the sampling of before embryo collection, 201 differential metabolites were identified. There were 11 shared differential metabolites in the samplings of before FSH injection and before artificial insemination and 5 shared differential metabolites in 3 samplings. Most differential metabolites were significantly enriched in amino acid, fatty acid metabolism, digestive system secretion and ovarian steroidogenesis pathways. This study showed that PC (14:0/22:1(13Z)), PE (DiMe (11, 3), TG (15:0/16:0/22:4 (7Z, 10Z, 13Z, 16Z)), PI (16:0/22:2 (13Z, 16Z)), PS (18:0/20:4(8Z, 11Z, 14Z, 17Z)) were differentially expressed in serum during superovulation period. It could be potential biomarkers for embryonic yield prediction in bovine superovulation. The lipid and amino acid metabolic pathways may have an impact on the ovarian response. The study results may provide novel screening indexes of donor for bovine superovulation, although the accuracy of relevant factors needs to further investigation.
Keywords: Cow, Superovulation, Metabolome, Serum, biomaker
Received: 27 Dec 2024; Accepted: 03 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Su, Gao, Chen, Zhang, Liu, Bian, Su and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiaohu Su, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.