Production of porcine cloned transgenic embryos expressing green fluorescent protein by somatic cell nuclear transfer

In the present study, nuclear transferred embryos (NTEs) were reconstructed by using pig fetal fibroblasts as donors and in vitro matured oocytes as recipients. The effects of G418 selection on donor cells, duration of IVM of prepubertal gilt oocytes and oxygen tension in IVM of oocytes were investigated. The results were as follows: (i) When G418 selected cells expressing GFP were used as donors, the cleavage rate of NTEs decreased drastically in comparison to NTEs derived from donors without antibiotic selection (47.5% vs. 71.6%, p<0.05). For the blastocyst rate, no significant difference was observed between two groups (10% vs. 10.4%, p>0.05). (ii) The rate of nuclear maturation of oocytes increased significantly when IVM duration time was extended from 36 to 42 h (83.6% vs. 96.7%, p<0.05). However, no statistical difference was observed between NTEs derived from oocytes of 36 h IVM group and NTEs from oocytes of 42 h IVM group in the rates of cleavage (59.3% vs. 73.6%, p>0.05) and blastocyst formation (9.3% vs. 13.2%, p>0.05); (iii) no significant difference was observed between NTEs reconstructed from oocytes matured under lower oxygen (7% O₂) tension and NTEs derived from oocytes matured under higher oxygen tension (20% O₂) in cleavage rate (70.6% vs. 67.1%, p>0.05) and blastocyst rate (11.8% vs. 12.3%, p>0.05). These results suggest that: (i) G418 selection does not have a significant effect on cleavage rate of NTEs expressing GFP. (ii) Nuclear maturation is greatly improved by prolonging IVM duration from 36 to 42 h, while no significant differences were observed for developmental potential of transgenic embryos. Thus IVM 42 h is the better choice in order to obtain maximum number of MII oocytes as recipients. (iii) Lower oxygen tension and higher oxygen tension in IVM have no significant effect on development of cloned embryos.     

Production of porcine cloned transgenic embryos expressing green fluorescent protein by somatic cell nuclear transfer

In the present study, nuclear transferred embryos (NTEs) were reconstructed by using pig fetal fibroblasts as donors and in vitro matured oocytes as recipients. The effects of G418 selection on donor cells, duration of IVM of prepubertal gilt oocytes and oxygen tension in IVM of oocytes were investigated. The results were as follows: (i) When G418 selected cells expressing GFP were used as donors, the cleavage rate of NTEs decreased drastically in comparison to NTEs derived from donors without antibiotic selection (45.7% vs. 71.6%, p<0.05). For the blastocyst rate, no significant difference was observed between two groups (10% vs. 10.4%, p>0.05). (ii) The rate of nuclear maturation of oocytes increased significantly when IVM duration time was extended from 36h to 42h (83.6% vs. 96.7%, p<0.05). However, no statistical difference were observed between NTEs derived from oocytes of 36 h IVM group and NTEs from oocytes of 42 h IVM group in the rates of cleavage (59.3% vs. 73.6%, p>0.05) and blastocyst formation (9.3% vs. 13.2%, p>0.05); (iii) no significant difference was observed between NTEs reconstructed from oocytes matured under lower oxygen (7% O₂) tension and NTEs derived from oocytes matured under higher oxygen tension (20% O₂) in cleavage rate (70.6% vs. 67.1%, p>0.05) and blastocyst rate (11.8% vs. 12.8%, p>0.05). These results suggest that: (i) G418 selection does not have a significant effect on cleavage rate of NTEs expressing GFP. (ii) Nuclear maturation is greatly improved by prolonging IVM duration from 36 to 42 h, while no significant differences were observed for developmental potential of transgenic embryos. Thus IVM 42 h is the better choice in order to obtain maximum number of MII oocytes as recipients. (iii) Lower oxygen tension and higher oxygen tension in IVM have no significant effect on development of cloned embryos.     

Production of porcine cloned transgenic embryos expressing green fluorescent protein by somatic cell nuclear transfer

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), combined with genome modification techniques, is a very pow-erful tool for agriculture, medicine and fundamental research on basic biological mechanisms. The effi-ciency of producing transgenic animals is greatly prom…     

Production of porcine cloned transgenic embryos expressing green fluorescent protein by somatic cell nuclear transfer

In the present study, nuclear transferred embryos (NTEs) were reconstructed by using pig fetal fibroblasts as donors and in vitro matured oocytes as recipients. The effects of G418 selection on donor cells, duration of IVM of prepubertal gilt oocytes and oxygen tension in IVM of oocytes were investigated. The results were as follows: (i) When G418 selected cells expressing GFP were used as donors, the cleavage rate of NTEs decreased drastically in comparison to NTEs derived from donors without antibiotic selection (45.7% vs. 71.6%, p<0.05). For the blastocyst rate, no significant difference was observed between two groups (10% vs. 10.4%, p>0.05). (ii) The rate of nuclear maturation of oocytes increased significantly when IVM duration time was extended from 36h to 42h (83.6% vs. 96.7%, p<0.05). However, no statistical difference were observed between NTEs derived from oocytes of 36 h IVM group and NTEs from oocytes of 42 h IVM group in the rates of cleavage (59.3% vs. 73.6%, p>0.05) and blastocyst formation (9.3% vs. 13.2%, p>0.05); (iii) no significant difference was observed between NTEs reconstructed from oocytes matured under lower oxygen (7% O₂) tension and NTEs derived from oocytes matured under higher oxygen tension (20% O₂) in cleavage rate (70.6% vs. 67.1%, p>0.05) and blastocyst rate (11.8% vs. 12.8%, p>0.05). These results suggest that: (i) G418 selection does not have a significant effect on cleavage rate of NTEs expressing GFP. (ii) Nuclear maturation is greatly improved by prolonging IVM duration from 36 to 42 h, while no significant differences were observed for developmental potential of transgenic embryos. Thus IVM 42 h is the better choice in order to obtain maximum number of MII oocytes as recipients. (iii) Lower oxygen tension and higher oxygen tension in IVM have no significant effect on development of cloned embryos.     

Production of nuclear transfer-derived piglets using porcine fetal fibroblasts transfected with the enhanced green fluorescent protein

A system for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) was developed and led to the successful production of GFP-transfected piglets. In experiment 1, two groups of SCNT couplets reconstructed with porcine fetal fibroblasts (PFF) and enucleated sow (S) or gilt oocytes (G): 1). received a simultaneous electrical fusion/activation (S-EFA or G-EFA groups), or 2). were electrically fused followed by activation with ionomycin (S-EFIA or G-EFIA groups), or 3). were subjected to electrical fusion and subsequent activation by ionomycin, followed by 6-dimethylaminopurine treatment (S-EFIAD or G-EFIAD groups). The frequency of blastocyst formation was significantly higher in S-EFA (26%) compared with that observed in the other experimental groups (P < 0.05), but not with S-EFIA (23%). Sow oocytes yielded significantly higher cleavage frequencies (68%-69%) and total cell numbers of blastocysts when compared with gilt oocytes, regardless of fusion/activation methods (P < 0.05). However, the ratio of inner cell mass (ICM)/total cells in G-EFA and S-EFA was significantly lower than in the other groups (P < 0.05). In experiment 2, SCNT couplets reconstructed with PFF cultured in the presence or absence of serum and enucleated sow oocytes were subjected to EFA. There were no effects of serum starvation on cell-cycle synchronization, developmental competence, total cell numbers, and ratio of ICM/total cells. In experiment 3, SCNT couplets reconstructed with PFF transfected with an enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) gene using FuGENE-6 and enucleated sow oocytes were subjected to EFA and cultured for 7 days. Expression frequencies of GFP gene during development were 100%, 78%, 72%, 71%, and 70% in fused, two-cell, four to eight cells, morulae, and blastocysts, respectively. In experiment 4, SCNT embryos derived from different recipient cytoplasts (sows or gilts) and donor karyoplasts (PFF or GFP-transfected) were subjected to EFA and transferred to the oviducts of surrogates. The pregnancy rates in SCNT embryos derived from sow oocytes (66%-69%) were higher than those with gilt oocytes (23%-27%) regardless of donor cell types. One live offspring from GFP-SCNT embryos and two from PFF-SCNT embryos were delivered. Microsatellite analysis confirmed that the clones were genetically identical to the donor cells and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from genomic DNA of cloned piglets and subsequent southern blot analysis confirmed the integration of EGFP gene into chromosomes.     

Nuclear transfer of synchronized african wild cat somatic cells into enucleated domestic cat oocytes

The African wild cat is one of the smallest wild cats and its future is threatened by hybridization with domestic cats. Nuclear transfer, a valuable tool for retaining genetic variability, offers the possibility of species continuation rather than extinction. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of somatic cell nuclei of the African wild cat (AWC) to dedifferentiate within domestic cat (DSH) cytoplasts and to support early development after nuclear transplantation. In experiment 1, distributions of AWC and DSH fibroblasts in each cell-cycle phase were assessed by flow cytometry using cells cultured to confluency and disaggregated with pronase, trypsin, or mechanical separation. Trypsin (89.0%) and pronase (93.0%) yielded higher proportions of AWC nuclei in the G0/G1 phase than mechanical separation (82.0%). In contrast, mechanical separation yielded higher percentages of DSH nuclei in the G0/G1 phase (86.6%) than pronase (79.7%) or trypsin (74.2%) treatments. In both species, pronase induced less DNA damage than trypsin. In experiment 2, the effects of serum starvation, culture to confluency, and exposure to roscovitine on the distribution of AWC and DSH fibroblasts in various phases of the cell cycle were determined. Flow cytometry analyses revealed that the dynamics of the cell cycle varied as culture conditions were modified. Specifically, a higher percentage of AWC and DSH nuclei were in the G0/G1 phase after cells were serum starved (83% vs. 96%) than were present in cycling cells (50% vs. 64%), after contact inhibition (61% vs. 88%), or after roscovitine (56% vs. 84%) treatment, respectively. In experiment 3, we evaluated the effects of cell synchronization and oocyte maturation (in vivo vs. in vitro) on the reconstruction and development of AWC-DSH- and DSH-DSH-cloned embryos. The method of cell synchronization did not affect the fusion and cleavage rate because only a slightly higher percentage of fused couplets cleaved when donor nuclei were synchronized by serum starvation (83.0%) than after roscovitine (80.0%) or contact-inhibition (80.0%). The fusion efficiency of in vivo and in vitro matured oocytes used as recipient cytoplasts of AWC donor nuclei (86.6% vs. 85.2%) was similar to the rates obtained with DSH donor nuclei, 83.7% vs. 73.0%, respectively. The only significant effect of source of donor nucleus (AWC vs. DSH) was on the rate of blastocyst formation in vitro. A higher percentage of the embryos derived from AWC nuclei developed to the blastocyst stage than did embryos produced from DSH nuclei, 24.2% vs. 3.3%, respectively (P < 0.05). In experiment 4, the effect of calcium in the fusion medium on induction of oocyte activation and development of AWC-DSH-cloned embryos was determined. The presence of calcium in the fusion medium induced a high incidence of cleavage of DSH oocytes (54.3%), while oocyte cleavage frequency was much lower in the absence of calcium (16.6%). The presence or absence of calcium in the fusion medium did not affect the fusion, cleavage, and blastocyst development of AWC-DSH-cloned embryos. In experiment 5, AWC-DSH-cloned embryos were transferred to the uteri of 11 synchronized domestic cat recipients on Day 6 or 7 after oocyte aspiration. Recipients were assessed by ultrasonography on Day 21 postovulation, but no pregnancies were observed. In the present study, after NT, AWC donor nuclei were able to dedifferentiate in DSH cytoplasts and support high rates of blastocyst development in vitro. Incomplete reprogramming of the differentiated nucleus may be a major constraint to the in vivo developmental potential of the embryos.     

Oocyte age and nuclear donor cell type affect the technical efficiency of somatic cloning in rabbits

The present study in rabbits compared, in the first experiment, the effect of two commonly used oocyte ages, 13 h and 17 h after ovulation induction treatment, on the technical efficiency of somatic nuclear transfer steps, using fresh cumulus cells as nuclear donors. Recently ovulated metaphase II oocytes (13 h) showed higher fusion (13 h: 83% vs 17 h: 67%, p < 0.05) and in vitro development rates than in vivo slightly aged metaphase II oocytes (morula, 13 h: 74% vs 17 h: 25%, p < 0.05; blastocyst, 13 h: 16% vs 17 h: 8%; p < 0.05). In contrast, activation rate was higher in the 17 h group (13 h: 45% vs 17 h: 67%; p < 0.05). In a second experiment, using recently ovulated oocytes (13 h) as recipients, two donor cell types (from primary cultures of either cumulus cells or fetal fibroblasts) were tested to evaluate their effects on the efficiencies of the different technical steps of somatic nuclear transfer procedure. A better fusion ratewas obtained when fetal fibroblasts were used as nuclear donors (cumulus cells: 45% vs fetal fibroblasts: 67%, p < 0.05). No statistically significant differences were detected in cleavage rate regardless of the cell type used (cumulus cells: 44% vs fetal fibroblasts: 60%, p > 0.05). However, in vitro development to morula (cumulus cells: 41% vs fetal fibroblasts: 14%, p < 0.05) and to blastocyst stage (cumulus cells: 27% vs fetal fibroblasts: 3%, p < 0.05) were different between cell types.     

Developmental potential and transgene expression of porcine nuclear transfer embryos using somatic cells

We examined whether porcine nuclear transfer (NT) embryos carrying somatic cells have a developmental potential and NT embryos carrying transformed fibroblasts express transgenes in the preimplantation stages. In Experiment 1, different activation methods were applied to NT embryos and the development rates were examined. Relative to A23187 only or A23187/6-DMAP, electrical pulse made a significant increase in both cleavage rate (58.1+/-13.9 or 60.7+/-6.3 vs. 74.9+/-7.5%) and development rate of NT embryos to the blastocyst stage (2.2+/-2.8 or 2.2+/-1.5 vs. 11.0+/-4.1%). In Experiment 2, in vitro developmental competence of NT embryos was investigated. The developmental rate to the blastocyst stage of NT embryos (9.9+/- 2.4% for cumulus cells and 9.8+/-1.6% for fibroblast cells) was significantly lower than that (22.9+/-3.5%) of IVF-derived embryos (P<0.01). NT blastocysts derived from either cumulus (28.9+/-11.4, n = 26) or fibroblast cells (30.2+/-9.9, n = 27) showed smaller mean nuclei numbers than IVF-derived blastocysts (38.6+/-10.4, n = 62) (P<0.05). In Experiment 3, nuclear transfer of porcine fibroblasts expressing the GFP (green fluorescent protein) gene resulted in green blastocysts without losing developmental potential. These results suggest that porcine embryos reconstructed by somatic cell nuclear transfer are capable of developing to preimplantation stage. We conclude that somatic cells expressing exogenous genes can be used as nuclei donors in the production of NT-mediated transgenic pig.     

Phytohemagglutinin improves efficiency of electrofusing mammary gland epithelial cells into oocytes in goats

The objective was to investigate the effect of phytohemagglutinin (PHA) on the fusion of mammary gland epithelial (MGE) cells into enucleated oocytes in goats. The toxicity of PHA was evaluated by testing its effect on the development of parthenogenetic caprine oocytes. The effective dose and duration of PHA treatment (100 μg/mL, 20 min incubation) was selected and used to compare fusion efficiency and embryo development following nuclear transfer. Two electrofusion protocols, chamber fusion (CF) and pressurized microelectrode fusion (pMEF), were also compared, when couplets were treated with and without PHA (100 μg/mL, 20 min). Fusion rate of couplets increased from 52.8 to 74.0% for the CF protocol (P < 0.05), but was not significantly different for the pMEF protocol (72.7% vs. 78.1%) after PHA treatment. There were no significant differences between treated group and control in rates of subsequent cleavage or blastocyst development. Following transfer of the cloned blastocysts derived from the PHA-treated group and the control group into synchronized recipients, pregnancy rates (Day 30) were not significantly different between treated group and control (28.6% vs. 25.0%). However, all recipients aborted within 120 d, microsatellite DNA analyses confirmed that the aborted fetuses were genetically identical to the donor goat. In conclusion, the fusion rate of caprine MGE cell couplets was improved by pre-incubating couplets in medium containing 100 μg/mL PHA prior to electrical pulsing, and embryos derived from PHA treatment established early pregnancies.     

Development of cloned embryos from adult rabbit fibroblasts: effect of activation treatment and donor cell preparation

This research was to study the in vitro and in vivo development of cloned embryos derived from adult rabbit fibroblasts following various activation protocols. Effects of serum starvation and passage number of donor cells on the efficiency of cloning were also examined. In experiment I, oocytes were activated either by electric pulses or by electric pulses followed by culture with 6-dimethylaminopurin (DMAP). For experiment II, the best activation protocol from experiment I was employed for cloning using adult rabbit fibroblasts that were cultured for 0-15 passages. In experiment III, the effect of serum starvation of the donor cells on cloning was examined. Finally, in experiment IV, embryo transfers were conducted. These experiments showed that combined electrical pulse and DMAP treatment resulted in superior parthenogenetic blastocyst development (up to 29%), and that activation of the cytoplast before versus after fusion was not different in supporting the in vitro development of nuclear transferred embryos (16%-18% blastocysts). Adult fibroblasts derived from nonpassaged cells were less capable of developing into blastocysts than passaged cells (6% vs. 17%). Serum starvation of donor cells improved cleavage (up to 71%) but did not improve blastocyst development (13%), and no progeny was obtained, irrespective of the treatment. Cell-cycle analysis of adult rabbit fibroblast cells showed that passage 6 and 12 cells were more likely to be in G(0)/G(1) than passage 0 cells, which agrees with the improved embryo development in the passaged-cell groups.     

A comparative study on efficiency of adult fibroblasts and amniotic fluid-derived stem cells as donor cells for production of hand-made cloned buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) embryos

The efficiency of two cell types, namely adult fibroblasts, and amniotic fluid stem (AFS) cells as nuclear donor cells for somatic cell nuclear transfer by hand-made cloning in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) was compared. The in vitro expanded buffalo adult fibroblast cells showed a typical “S” shape growth curve with a doubling time of 40.8 h and stained positive for vimentin. The in vitro cultured undifferentiated AFS cells showed a doubling time of 33.2 h and stained positive for alkaline phosphatase, these cells were also found positive for undifferentiated embryonic stem cell markers like OCT-4, NANOG and SOX-2, which accentuate their pluripotent property. Further, when AFS cells were exposed to corresponding induction conditions, these cells differentiated into osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic lineages which was confirmed through alizaran, oil red O and alcian blue staining, respectively. Cultured adult fibroblasts and AFS cells of passages 10–15 and 8–12, respectively, were used as nuclear donors. A total of 94 embryos were reconstructed using adult fibroblast as donor cells with cleavage and blastocyst production rate of 62.8 ± 1.8 and 19.1 ± 1.5, respectively. An overall cleavage and blastocyst formation rate of 71.1 ± 1.2 and 29.9 ± 2.2 was obtained when 97 embryos were reconstructed using AFS cells as donor cells. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in reconstructed efficiency between the cloned embryos derived from two donor cells, whereas the results showed that there were significant differences (P < 0.05) in cleavage and blastocyst rates between the cloned embryos derived from two donor cell groups. Average total cell numbers for blastocyst generated using AFS cells (172.4 ± 5.8) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than from adult fibroblasts (148.2 ± 6.1). This study suggests that the in vitro developmental potential of the cloned embryos derived from AFS cells were higher than that of the cloned embryos derived from adult fibroblasts in buffalo hand-made cloning.     

6—DMAP和胚胎干细胞代数对异种重构卵体外发育的影响（简报）

The development of reconstructed oocytes and the survival rate of cloned animal were affected by many factors during nuclear transfer. The genetic constitution and the genetic state of donor nucleus were proposed to be primary factors, which affected the survival rate of cloned animal. In addition, the survival rate of cloned animal might be influenced by nuclear transfer technique itself and passages of donor cells as well as the activation methods of oocytes. We reconstructed oocytes with outbreeding Kunming albino mouse ES cells and enucleated rabbit oocytes, and analyzed the effects of the passages of ES cells and 6-DMAP on the development of interspecific reconstructed oocytes. The interspecific reconstructed ES-rabbit oocytes were activated either by combined two set electric pulses and 6-DMAP or by two set electric pulses alone. The rate of cleavage was significantly higher for the group (86.2%) treated with 6-DMAP than the group (64.2%, P < 0.05) treated with electric pulses only, and the rate of blastocysts was 17.0% and 13.4% respectively, which were not significantly different between two groups. When ES cells that had been passed for 24 and 14 generations were used as donors, the cleavage rates of the reconstructed oocytes were 88.5% and 82.1%, respectively (P > 0.05), and the rates of blastolation were 16.7% and 15.4%, respectively (P > 0.05). The results show that 6-DMAP increases the cleavage rate of reconstructed oocytes derived from ES cells, and affects slightly the developmental rate of blastocysts. There are no differences when high passage and low passage ES cells are used as nuclear donors.     

Effect of telophase enucleation on bovine somatic nuclear transfer

Telophase enucleation has been proven to be an efficient method for preparing recipient cytoplasts in bovine embryonic nuclear transfer (2, 11). This research was designed to study in vitro development of bovine oocytes containing transferred somatic cell nuclei, reconstructed by using enucleated in vitro-matured oocytes 32 h of age at telophase II stage as recipient cytoplasts, compared with those 24 h of age at metaphase II stage. Two protocols for donor cell injection were adopted, i.e., subzonal injection (SUZI) and intracytoplasmic injection (ICI). Bovine oviduct epithelial cells (BOECs) and bovine cumulus cells (BCCs) from an adult cow were used as nuclear donors for these experiments. In SUZI groups, the fusion rate of donor cells, both BOECs and BCCs, with MII enucleated oocytes were higher than those with TII enucleated oocytes (54% vs. 41% and 53% vs. 39%, respectively; P<0.05), but the development rates to morula plus blastocyst stage in MII groups were lower than those in TII groups (22% vs. 39% and 21% vs. 41%, respectively; P<0.05). In ICI groups, about 26% of enucleated MII oocytes injected with BOECs or BCCs cleaved and only small parts of them developed to blastocyst stage (4% and 3%, respectively; P>0.05). When BOECs or BCCs were intracytoplasmically injected into oocytes enucleated at TII stage, no blastocyst was formed in either donor cell group and no cleavage occurred in BOEC group. Our data demonstrated that telophase enucleation is beneficial to early embryo development when bovine somatic nuclei are transferred by subzonal injection. However, it is harmful when donor cells are directly injected into the cytoplast of the enucleated oocytes.     

Effect of donor embryo cell number and cell size on the efficiency of bovine embryo cloning

To establish reliable criteria for the evaluation of nuclear donor embryos, we studied the effect of cell number and cell size of in vitro produced day 6 donor morulae on the rate of blastocyst formation following nuclear transfer to in vitro matured oocytes. In experiment 1, donor embryos were divided into three groups with low (25–34), intermediate (40–55), and high (60–81) blastomere numbers. Transfer of nuclei from day 6 morulae with intermediate and high cell numbers resulted in a significantly higher blastocyst rate (31% and 32%, respectively) than use of nuclei from day 6 morulae with low cell numbers (17%) or nuclei from day 7 morulae with 50–83 blastomeres (19%). This suggests that blastomeres from the developmentally advanced day 6 morulae are more viable than blastomeres from retarded embryos. In experiment 2, we evaluated the effect of blastomere size in day 6 donor morulae with intermediate (40–55) or high (60–81) cell numbers on the efficiency of nuclear transfer. In both classes of embryos, small blastomeres were better nuclear donors than large blastomeres. The rates of development to the blastocyst stage were 28% versus 15% (40–55 cells) and 41% versus 25% (60–81 cells), suggesting that small blastomeres include a higher proportion of totipotent cells than the polarized large blastomeres. Our results demonstrate that blastomere number and size markedly affect the efficiency of nuclear transfer and therefore are useful criteria for evaluating nuclear donor embryos. These parameters are easy to determine and may therefore be helpful to improve the efficiency of cattle cloning. © 1995 wiley-Liss, Inc.     

6-DMAP和胚胎干细胞代数对异种重构卵体外发育的影响(简报)

核移植技术已经广泛应用于动物克隆,但是克隆动物的成活率仍然很低。许多克隆胚胎死于妊娠期,少部分能发育到期,正常出生,但多数在出生后由于心肺和消化道的问题,很快就夭折,有些克隆动物有异常表型,如出生时体重和胎盘过大等。研究发现,在同种克隆动物实验中用胚胎干细胞(Embryonic stem cell,ES细胞)作为核供体,发育到期的克隆动物比例明显高于体细胞,并且用杂交一代的小鼠ES细胞为核供体,绝大多数克隆仔     

Duration of in vitro maturation of recipient oocytes affects blastocyst development of cloned porcine embryos

This study investigated the effects of different incubation periods for oocyte maturation and contact inhibition of donor cells as well as different osmolarities for storage of recipient oocytes on fusion rates, cleavage rates, and blastocyst yields of porcine somatic nuclear transfer (SCNT) derived embryos. In addition, the in vivo developmental potential of cloned embryos derived from the most promising SCNT protocol was tested by transfer to recipient gilts. Storage of in vitro-matured oocytes for 7.5 h in calcium-free TL-HEPES medium at 295 or 320 mOsmol prior to activation yielded significantly (p < 0.05) higher parthenogenetic blastocyst rates compared to storage in TL-HEPES with an osmolarity of 270 mOsmol (24.4 +/- 3.0% and 26.2 +/- 4.3% vs. 18.3 +/- 6.4%, respectively, mean +/- SD) and improved the visibility of the polar body. Electrical fusion of fibroblasts to enucleated oocytes matured for 38, 40, or 42 h resulted in similar fusion and cleavage rates (74.8-84.4%). However, nuclear transfer with oocytes matured for 40 h in vitro yielded significantly higher (p < 0.05) development to the blastocyst stage after 7 days of culture (14.7 +/- 1.7%) than with oocytes matured for 38 h (9.5 +/- 2.1%) or 42 h (5.1 +/- 2.1%). Contact inhibition for 24, 48, or 72 h significantly (p < 0.05) increased the proportion of cells at G0/G1 compared with cycling fibroblasts. However, duration of contact inhibition of the donor cells for either 24, 48, or 72 h had no effect on blastocyst rates of SCNT embryos. Four gilts received an average of 150 SCNT embryos (range 138-161) reconstructed with oocytes matured for 40 h; two of these became pregnant; one of them went to term and farrowed four piglets on day 115 of pregnancy. Microsatellite analysis confirmed that the clones were genetically identical with the donor cells. These results show that changes of the in vitro maturation protocol may affect in vitro development of reconstructed porcine embryos, while duration of the contact inhibition period plays a minor role for the success of porcine SCNT. The effects on in vivo development are yet to be determined.     

Blastocyst development after intergeneric nuclear transfer of mountain bongo antelope somatic cells into bovine oocytes

Intergeneric embryos were constructed by nuclear transfer using Mountain Bongo antelope somatic cells fused with enucleated bovine oocytes and their subsequent development in vitro was investigated. After two to six passages, starved or non-starved skin fibroblast cells were used as donor nuclei. In vitro matured bovine oocytes were enucleated by squeezing the first polar body and surrounding cytoplasm through a slit in the zona pellucida. After injection of a somatic cell into the perivitelline space, couplets were fused electrically and activated chemically, then subjected to different embryo culture treatments. Serum starvation had no effect on the frequency of cleavage to two cells or on development to the blastocyst stage in either sequential hamster embryo culture medium (HECM)-6/TCM-199 + serum or HECM-9/TC-199 + serum, or modified synthetic oviduct fluid (mSOF) culture medium. When couplets from non-starved donor nuclei were cultured, the frequency of cleavage (66 +/- 8% vs. 44 +/- 5%), development to >/=9 cells (46 +/- 6% vs. 24 +/- 4%), and formation of blastocysts (24 +/- 5% vs. 11 +/- 2%) were all significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the HECM-6 medium than in mSOF medium. In conclusion, bovine oocytes can support blastocyst development after intergeneric fusion with bongo fibroblasts. This technique could potentially be used as an alternative to using scarce bongo oocytes in attempts to propagate these endangered animals.     

Developmental ability of bovine embryos after nuclear transfer based on the nuclear source: in vivo versus in vitro

Bovine nuclear transfer embryos reconsitituted from in vitro-matured recipient oocyte cytoplasm and different sources of donor nuclei (in vivo, in vitro-produced or frozen-thawed) were evaluated for their ability to develop in vitro. Their cleavage rate and blastocyst formation are compared with those of control IVF embryos derived from the same batches of in vitro-matured oocytes that were used for nuclear transfer and were co-cultured under the same conditions on bovine oviducal epithelial cell monolayers for 7 d. Using fresh donor morulae as the source of nuclei resulted in 30.2% blastocyst formation (150 497 ), which was similar to that of control IVM-IVF embryos (33.8% blastocysts, 222 657 ). When IVF embryos were used as the source of nuclei for cloning, a slightly lower blastocyst formation rate (22.6%, 41 181 ) was obtained but not significantly different from that using fresh donor morulae. Nuclear transfer embryos derived from vitrified donor embryos showed poor development in vitro (7.1%, 11 154 ). No difference in morphology or cell number was observed after 7 d of co-culture between blastocysts derived from nuclear transfer or control IVF embryos. The viability of 34 in vitro-developed nuclear transfer blastocysts was tested in vivo and resulted in the birth of 11 live calves (32.3%).     

Clonal lines of transgenic fibroblast cells derived from the same fetus result in different development when used for nuclear transfer in pigs

Different factors are believed to influence the outcome of nuclear transfer (NT) experiments. Besides the cell cycle stage of both recipient cytoplast and donor karyoplast, the origin of the donor cells (embryonic, fetal, and adult) is of interest. We compared in vitro development of NT embryos derived from small serum-starved (G0) or small cycling (G1) porcine fetal fibroblast cells. Serum starvation did not have a positive effect on cleavage rate or the percentage of embryos that developed to the morula and blastocyst stages. Next, we investigated the development of porcine NT embryos derived from different transgenic clonal cell lines that had originated from the same fetus. When different clonal lines of fetal fibroblasts were fused to enucleated metaphase II oocytes, differences in fusion rates as well as in development to the morula and blastocyst stages were observed (P < 0.05). When oocytes derived from sow ovaries were used as recipient cytoplasts, significantly better cleavage (P = 0.03) and blastocyst formation (P < 0.014) was obtained when compared with oocytes derived from gilts. Our data indicate that not only different cell lines, but also different clones derived from one primary cell line, result in different development when used for NT. In addition, the use of sow oocytes as a cytoplast source also improves the efficiency of NT experiments.     

体细胞的组织来源及培养代数对猪核移植重构胚发育的影响

本研究系统探讨了体细胞的组织来源及培养代数对猪核移植重构胚发育的影响。体外成熟培养40-44h的猪卵母细胞去核后,将经血清饥饿(0．5?s)培养2-9d、0．1mg/L Aphidicolin (APD)培养 0．5?S培养2-9d或一般培养法(10?S)培养的卵丘细胞、颗粒细胞、输卵管上皮细胞和耳皮成纤维细胞,直接注射到去核的卵母细胞质中,或注射到卵周隙中。再经电融合(100V/mm,30μs,电脉冲1次)构建重构胚。重构胚以钙离子载体A23817或电脉冲结合6- DMAP激活处理,体外培养6天。耳皮成纤维细胞和颗粒细胞经0．1mg/L APD 0．5?S培养处理后的重组胚卵裂率,均高于血清饥饿和一般培养处理的同种供体细胞(P＜0．01)。卵丘细胞、颗粒细胞经0．1mg/L APD 0．5?S处理后进行核移植的分裂率和发育率均高于输卵管上皮细胞和耳皮成纤维细胞(P＜0．05)。以猪颗粒细胞为核供体时,电融合法的重构胚分裂率显著高于胞质内注入法(P＜0．05),但囊胚发育率无显著差异(P＞0．05)。培养3代和6代的猪颗粒细胞以及培养6代和10代的耳皮成纤维细胞,其具有正常二倍染色体的细胞比例均无显著差异(P＞0．05);以这2种细胞不同培养代数做供体进行核移植时,各代之间核移胚的体外分裂率、囊胚发育率无显著差异(P＞0．05)。这些结果表明：(1)猪耳皮成纤维细胞和颗粒细胞经培养传代所建立起来的细胞系相对比较稳定;(2)0．1mg/L APD预培养处理供体细胞能提高猪体细胞核移植的效果,血清饥饿培养则无明显效果;(3)猪颗粒细胞和耳皮成纤维细胞等均可做供核细胞．核移植后都能得到体细胞克隆的囊胚,但前者的效果略优于后者,且其核移植效果不受供核细胞培养代数的影响;(4)电融合核移植胚胎的发育率高于胞质内直接注入法,但两者的总体效率相近。