Assessment of cytoplasmic effects on the development of mouse embryonic nuclei transferred to enucleated zygotes

In this study, cytoplasmic effects on the development of nuclear transplant embryos were examined. In addition, the production of offspring from nuclear transplant embryos was attempted. Nuclei from cleavage-stage embryos were transplanted to enucleated zygotes at different cell cycle stages and with different cytoplasmic volumes. A greater developmental rate to the blastocyst stage was observed in reconstituted late stage zygotes that received nuclei from late 2-cell stage embryos than in early stage zygotes (46.3% vs. 16.9%). A further increase in developmental rate to the blastocyst stage (85.5%) and in cell number was obtained in reconstituted late stage zygotes with reduced cytoplasmic volume. However, developmental potential of nuclei from 4- and 8-cell stage embryos was very limited, although they were transferred to enucleated late stage zygotes with reduced cytoplasm. After the transfer of blastocysts derived from nuclear transplant embryos to recipient females, live young were obtained from reconstituted embryos that received nuclei from late 2-cell stage embryos (28.6%). These results confirm that the development of nuclear transplant embryos can be affected by recipient cell cycle stage and cytoplasmic volume. Furthermore, the nuclei from late 2-cell stage embryos in which activation of the embryonic genome had occurred can be reprogrammed to a certain extent when transplanted into enucleated zygotes, especially late stage zygotes with reduced cytoplasmic content.