1. L-Carnitine decreases DNA damage and improves the in vitro blastocyst development rate in mouse embryos 
Hussein Abdelrazik, M.D., Rakesh Sharma, Ph.D., Reda Mahfouz, M.D., Ashok Agarwal, Ph.D. 
Fertility and Sterility 
Volume 91, Issue 2, Pages (February 2009)
DOI: /j.fertnstert
Copyright © 2009 American Society for Reproductive Medicine Terms and Conditions

2. Figure 1
Confocal photomicrographs of mouse blastocyst stained for apoptosis. All nuclei of the blastocyst are labeled with 4′,6′-diamidino-2-phenylindole hydrochloride (blue channel) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase–mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (green channel). (A) Control group; (B) human tubal fluid (HTF) medium mg/mL L-carnitine (LC); (C) HTF medium mg/mL LC. Significant improvement in blastocyst development rate (%BDR) was seen at LC 0.3 mg/mL compared with control (100% vs. 83.3%; P=.006). No significant change was seen in the level of apoptosis in embryos cultured in 0.3 and 0.6 mg/mL LC (P=.13 and P=.42, respectively). (D) Actinomycin-D μg/mL; (E) actinomycin-D mg/mL LC; (F) actinomycin-D mg/mL LC. Treatment of the embryos with actinomycin-D at 0.005μg/mL for 4 h significantly increased the level of apoptosis (P<.001) compared with control. A significant decrease in the level of apoptosis induced by actinomycin-D also was seen in embryos treated with 0.3 and 0.6 mg/mL LC (both P<.001). Scale bar = 10 μm.
Fertility and Sterility  , DOI: ( /j.fertnstert )
Copyright © 2009 American Society for Reproductive Medicine Terms and Conditions

3. Figure 2
Confocal photomicrographs of mouse blastocyst stained for apoptosis. All nuclei of the blastocyst are labeled with 4′,6′-diamidino-2-phenylindole hydrochloride (blue channel) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase–mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (green channel). (A) Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) 500 mmol/L; H2O2 at this concentration arrested more than 92% of the embryos. (B) H2O mg/mL L-carnitine (LC); (C) H2O mg/mL LC. Incubation of mouse embryos in 500 μmol/L H2O2 significantly increased the level of apoptosis (P<.001) compared with control. There was no significant difference in apoptosis level in H2O or 0.6 mg/mL LC compared with control (P=.34 and P=.37, respectively). L-Carnitine at 0.3 and 0.6 mg/mL concentration significantly decreased the level of apoptosis (P<.006 and P<.007, respectively) compared with the group treated with H2O2 alone. (D) Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) 500 ng/mL; (E) TNF-α mg/mL LC; (F) TNF-α mg/mL LC. Incubation of two-cell mouse embryos with 500 ng TNF-α significantly decreased the %BDR (P<.001) but did not increase the level of apoptosis (P=.48) compared with control or with 0.3 and 0.6 mg/mL LC groups (P=.59 and P=.62, respectively). Scale bar = 10 μm.
Fertility and Sterility  , DOI: ( /j.fertnstert )
Copyright © 2009 American Society for Reproductive Medicine Terms and Conditions