• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.305-313
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• 2015

Xenotransplantation of pig islet regarded as a good alternative to allotransplantation. However, cellular death mediated by hypoxia-reoxygenation injury after transplantation disturb success of this technique. In the present study, we produce transgenic pig expressing human heme oxygenase 1 (HO1) genes to overcome cellular death for improving efficiency of islet xenotransplantation. Particularly, Korean miniature pig breed, Micro-Pig, was used in the present study. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) technique was used to produce the HO1 transgenic pig. Six alive transgenic piglets were produced and all the transgenic pigs were founded to have transgene in their genomic DNA and the gene was expressed in all tested organs. Also, in vitro cultured fibroblasts derived from the HO1 transgenic pig showed low reactive oxygen species level, improved cell viability and reduced apoptosis level.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.97-107
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• 2016

Although many diseases could be treated by the development of modern medicine, there are some incurable diseases including brain cancer, Alzheimer disease, etc. To study human brain cancer, various animal models were reported. Among these animal models, mouse models are valuable tools for understanding brain cancer characteristics. In spite of many mouse brain cancer models, it has been difficult to find a new target molecule for the treatment of brain cancer. One of the reasons is absence of large animal model which makes conducting preclinical trials. In this article, we review a recent study of molecular characteristics of human brain cancer, their genetic mutation and comparative analysis of the mouse brain cancer model. Finally, we suggest the need for development of large animal models using somatic cell nuclear transfer in translational research.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.375-383
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• 2014

Klotho (KL) is a single transmembrane protein composed of KL1 and KL2 repeats possessing ${\beta}$-glucuronidase activity and maintains calcium homeostasis in physiological state. It has been implicated in pigs that calcium is important for the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, and our previous study has shown that transient receptor potential vanilloid type 6 (TRPV6), a calcium ion transporter, is predominantly expressed in the uterine endometrium during pregnancy in pigs. However, expression and function of KL in the uterine endometrium has not been determined in pigs. Thus, the present study determined expression and regulation of KL in the uterine endometrium during the estrous cycle and pregnancy in pigs. Real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that levels of KL mRNA decreased between Days 12 to 15 of the estrous cycle, and its expression showed a biphasic manner during pregnancy. KL mRNA was expressed in conceptuses and in chorioallantoic tissues during pregnancy. Explant culture study showed that expression levels of KL were not affected by treatment of steroid hormones or interleukin-1beta during the implantation period. Furthermore, levels of KL mRNA in the uterine endometrium from gilts carrying somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)-derived embryos were significantly lower than those from gilts carrying natural mating-derived embryos on Day 12 of pregnancy. These results exhibited that KL was expressed at the maternal-conceptus interface in a pregnancy status- and stage-specific manner, and its expression was affected by SCNT procedure, suggesting that KL may play an important role in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy in pigs.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제35권9호
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• pp.1360-1366
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• 2022

Objective: The present study analyzed the influence of co-transferring embryos with high and low cloning efficiencies produced via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) on pregnancy outcomes in dogs. Methods: Cloned dogs were produced by SCNT using donor cells derived from a Tibetan Mastiff (TM) and Toy Poodle (TP). The in vivo developmental capacity of cloned embryos was evaluated. The pregnancy and parturition rates were determined following single transfer of 284 fused oocytes into 21 surrogates and co-transfer of 47 fused oocytes into four surrogates. Results: When cloned embryos produced using a single type of donor cell were transferred into surrogates, the pregnancy and live birth rates were significantly higher following transfer of embryos produced using TP donor cells than following transfer of embryos produced using TM donor cells. Next, pregnancy and live birth rates were compared following single and co-transfer of these cloned embryos. The pregnancy and live birth rates were similar upon co-transfer of embryos and single transfer of embryos produced using TP donor cells but were significantly lower upon single transfer of embryos produced using TM donor cells. Furthermore, the parturition rate for TM dogs and the percentage of these dogs that remained alive until weaning was significantly higher upon co-transfer than upon single transfer of embryos. However, there was no difference between the two embryo transfer methods for TP dogs. The mean birth weight of cloned TM dogs was significantly higher upon single transfer than upon co-transfer of embryos. However, the body weight of TM dogs did not significantly differ between the two embryo transfer methods after day 5. Conclusion: For cloned embryos with a lower developmental competence, the parturition rate and percentage of dogs that remain alive until weaning are increased when they are co-transferred with cloned embryos with a greater developmental competence.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.7-12
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• 2012

DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) gene contains three different isoform transcripts, Dnmt1s, Dnmt1o, and Dnmt1p, are produced by alternative usage of multiple first exons. Dnmt1o is specific to oocytes and preimplantation embryos, whereas Dnmt1s is expressed in somatic cells. Here we determined that porcine Dnmt1o gene had differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in 5'-flanking region, while those were not found in the Dnmt1s promoter region. The methylation patterns of the porcine Dnmt1o/Dnmt1s DMRs were investigated using bisulfite sequencing and pyrosequencing analysis through all preimplantation stages from one cell to blastocyst stage in in vivo or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The Dnmt1o DMRs contained 8 CpG sites, which located in -640 bp to -30 bp upstream region from transcription start site of the Dnmt1o gene. The methylation status of 5 CpGs within the Dnmt1o DMRs were distinctively different at each stage from one-cell to blastocyst stage in the $in$ $vivo$ or SCNT, respectively. 55.62% methylation degree of the Dnmt1o DMRs in the $in$ $vivo$ was increased up to 84.38% in the SCNT embryo, moreover, $de$ $novo$ methylation and demethylation occurred during development of porcine embryos from the one-cell stage to the blastocyst stage. However, the DNA methylation states at CpG sites in the Dnmt1s promoter regions were hypomethylated, and dramatically not changed through one-cell to blastocyst stage in the $in$ $vivo$ or SCNT embryos. In the present study, we demonstrated that the DMRs in the promoter region of the porcine Dnmt1o was well conserved, contributing to establishment and maintenance of genome-wide patterns of DNA methylation in early embryonic development.

• 한국동물생명공학회지
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• 제35권1호
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• pp.21-27
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• 2020

Somatic cell nuclear transfer derived embryonic stem cells (NT-ESCs) have significant advantages in various fields such as genetics, embryology, stem cell science, and regenerative medicine. However, the poor establishment of NT-ESCs hinders various research. Here, we applied fasudil, a Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, to develop somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos and establish NT-ESCs. In the study, MII oocytes were isolated from female B6D2F1 mice and performed SCNT with mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). The reconstructed NT-oocytes were activated artificially, and cultured to blastocysts in KSOM supplemented with 10 μM fasudil. Further, the blastocysts were seeded on inactivated MEFs in embryonic stem cell medium supplemented with 10 μM fasudil. A total of 26% of embryos formed into blastocysts in the fasudil treated group, while this ratio was 44% in the fasudil free control group. On the other hand, 30% of blastocysts were established NT-ESCs after exposure of fasudil, which was significantly higher than the control group (10%). The results suggest that fasudil reduced blastocyst development after SCNT due to inhibition of 2 cell cleavage while improved the establishment of NT-ESCs through the anti-apoptotic pathway.

• 한국동물생명공학회지
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.258-264
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• 2020

This study investigated the effect of variation in the number of somatic-cell-cloned embryos and their developmental stage at transfer on pregnancy, as well as the influence of the estrus status of recipient pigs on in vivo development of cloned porcine embryos after embryo transfer. For somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), fibroblast cells were obtained from a male porcine fetus. Recipient oocytes were collected from prepubertal gilts at a local abattoir and then cultured. After SCNT, reconstructed embryos of different numbers and developmental stages were transferred into recipient pigs. The developmental stage of the cloned embryos and the number of transferred embryos per surrogate showed no significant differences in terms of the resulting cloning efficiency. However, the pregnancy rate improved gradually as the number of transferred cloned embryos was increased from 100-150 or 151-200 to 201-300 per recipient. In pre-, peri-, and post-ovulation stages, pregnancy rates of 28.6%, 41.8%, and 67.6% and 16, 52, and 74 offspring were recorded, respectively. The number of cloned embryos and estrus status of the recipient pig at the time of transfer of the cloned embryo affect the efficiency of pig production; therefore, these variables should be particularly considered in order to increase the efficiency of somatic cell pig cloning.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.211-220
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• 2018

Nitric oxide (NO) has an important role in oocyte maturation and embryonic development in mammals. This study examined the effect of exogenous NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) in a maturation medium on meiotic progression and embryonic development after parthenogenesis (PA) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in pigs. When oocytes were exposed to $0.1{\mu}M$ SNAP for first 22 h of in vitro maturation (IVM) in Experiment 1, SNAP significantly improved blastocyst development in both defined and standard follicular fluid-supplemented media compared to untreated control (48.4 vs. 31.7-42.5%). SNAP treatment significantly arrested meiotic progression of oocytes at the germinal vesicle stage at 11 h of IVM (61.2 vs. 38.7%). However, there was no effect on meiotic progression at 22 h of IVM (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, when oocytes were treated with SNAP at 0.001, 0.1 and $10{\mu}M$ during the first 22 h of IVM to determine a suitable concentration, $0.1{\mu}M$ SNAP (54.2%) exhibited a higher blastocyst formation than 0 and $10{\mu}M$ SNAP (36.6 and 36.6%, respectively). Time-dependent effect of SNAP treatment was evaluated in Experiment 4. It was observed that SNAP treatment for the first 22 h of IVM significantly increased blastocyst formation compared to no treatment (57.1% vs. 46.2%). Antioxidant effect of SNAP was compared with that of cysteine. SNAP treatment significantly improved embryonic development to the blastocyst stage (49.1-51.5% vs. 34.4-37.5%) irrespective of the presence or absence of cysteine (Experiment 5). Moreover, SNAP significantly increased glutathione (GSH) content and inversely decreased the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level and mitochondrial oxidative activity in IVM oocytes. SNAP treatment during IVM showed a stimulating effect on in vitro development of SCNT embryos (Experiment 7). These results demonstrates that SNAP improves developmental competence of PA and SCNT embryos probably by maintaining the redox homeostasis through increasing GSH content and mitochondrial quality and decreasing ROS in IVM oocytes.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.131-138
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• 2017

본 연구에서는 체외성숙 배양액 내 caffeine 첨가가 돼지 난자의 성숙과 단위발생 및 체세포 핵이식 후 배 발육에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 난세포질 및 난구세포 부착정도의 형태학적 특징에 따라 MGCOCs와 MPCOCs로 구분된 미성숙난자를 각각 무처리군(대조군)과 2.5 mM caffeine이 첨가된 배양액에서 체외성숙 22-42(20시간), 34-42(8시간), 38-42(4시간)동안 처리하는 군으로 나누어 체외성숙을 유도하였다. 또한 체외성숙 난자를 단위발생 및 체세포 핵이식에 공여하여 배아를 생산한 후 7일 동안 체외배양하여 체외성숙 동안 caffeine 처리가 분할률, 배반포 형성률 및 배반포의 세포수에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 연구 결과, 분할률 및 배반포 세포 수는 caffeine의 처리 시간에 따라 유의적인 영향을 받지 않았다. 그러나 MPCOCs 유래 난자에서 체외성숙 후기 4시간 동안 caffeine 처리는 체세포 핵이식 배아의 배반포 형성률을 유의적으로 증가시켰다. 이 결과는 caffeine 처리가 체외성숙 동안 난자의 MPF 수준의 감소를 억제시킴으로써 체세포 핵의 리모델링이나 리프로그래밍에 영향을 미쳐 핵이식 배아의 발육능에 영향을 미친 것으로 사료된다.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.43-51
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• 2004

본 연구에서는 체세포를 이용한 돼지 복제수정란의 생산효율을 높이는 최적의 방법을 구명코자 핵이식 수정란에 각기 다른 조건들의 전기적 자극에 의한 융합과 활성화를 유도하여 융합율, 분할율, 후기배로의 발달율 및 배반포기배의 할구수를 비교ㆍ조사하여 다음과 같은 결과를 얻었다. 핵이식 복제 수정란과 전기자극에 의한 단위발생란과의 체외배양후 분할율을 비교한 결과 두 처리간에 유의적인 차이를 나타내지 않았으나, 배양7일째 배반포기배로의 발달율에 있어서는 복제수정란이 7.6%로 나타나 단위발생란의 20.4%에 비해 낮은 후기배로의 발달율을 나타내었다. 핵이식 수정란의 전기적 융합에 있어서 각기 다른 전기자극의 조건에 따른 융합율과 분할율 그리고 후기배로의 발달율에 있어서 110 V/mm의 전기적 자극이 주어진 군에서는 47.1%로 나타나 130 V/mm의 자극과 150 V/mm의 자극이 주어진 두 군에서의 70.2%와 72.6%에 비해 낮은 융합율을 나타내었고, 분할율에 있어서도 각각 48.6%, 72.6%와 70.5%로 나타나 110 V/mm의 자극이 주어진 군에서 두 처리군보다 낮은 성적을 나타내었다. 그러나 배반포기배로의 발달율에 있어서는 각각의 처리군에 있어서 8.1%, 9.7% 및 10.7%로 나타나 유의적인 차이를 나타내지 않았다. 체세포를 이용한 핵이식수정란의 전기적 자극에 의한 융합과 활성화에 있어서 3가지의 각기 다른 처리군(A type, SA 방법; B type, SA 방법과 CB 처리군; C type, DA 방법과 CB 처리군)으로 나누어 조사한 결과 3가지의 처리군에 있어서의 분할율은 각각 71.4%, 74.7% 및 70.8%로 나타나 유의적인 차이를 나타내지 않았으며, 배반포기배로의 발달율에 있어서도 각각 9.7%, 8.0% 및 11.2%로 나타나 유의적인 차이를 나타내지 않았다. 또한 배반포기배의 할구수에 있어서도 3가지 처리군에서 각각 22.5$\pm$12.8, 23.3$\pm$11.2 및 21.6$\pm$10.4로 나타나 유의적인 차이를 나타내지 않았다. 이상의 실험 결과들을 종합해 보면, 본 연구에서는 돼지의 체세포를 이용한 핵이식 수정란의 융합시 130 V/mm 또는 150 V/mm, 50 ${\mu}\textrm{s}$ec, 2 pul-se의 전기적 강도를 이용하고, 활성화 방법으로는 SA 방법 또는 DA 방법을 병행한다면 복제수정란의 생산효율을 향상시킬 수 있음을 시사하였다. 따라서 돼지의 체세포를 이용한 복제수정란의 생산효율을 향상시키기 위해서는 핵이식 수정란의 전기적 자극에 의한 융합과 활성화에 관한 조건이 확립되어야 하며, 또한 후기배로의 발달율 향상을 위한 최적의 체외배양조건이 확립되어야 할 것으로 사료된다.