• 한국수정란이식학회지
• /
• 제28권3호
• /
• pp.229-235
• /
• 2013

The objective of this study was to monitor health conditions of four genetically identical somatic cells cloned Labrador retriever puppies by estimation of body weight and analysis of hematologic and serologic characteristics. Naturally ovulated oocytes and donor cells were used for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Donor cells and enucleated oocytes were followed by electric fusion, chemical activation and surgical embryo transfer into the oviducts of surrogate females. Two recipients became pregnant; two maintained pregnancy to term, and four live puppies were delivered by Caesarean section. The cloned Labrador retrievers were genetically identical to the nuclear donor dog. The body weight of clone-1, -2, -3, and -4 was increased from 0.66, 0.40, 0.39, and 0.37 kg at birth to 6.2, 6.6, 6.2, and 6.0 kg at 8 weeks of age, respectively. Although clone-4 had lower numbers of RBC than reference range, the most of RBC and WBC related heamatologic results of cloned puppies were not different when compared to reference range. In serological analysis, Glucose, ALP and inorganic phosphate level of four cloned puppies was significantly higher than the reference ranges. However, there was no significant difference among four cloned dogs. This study suggests that cloned puppies derived from SCNT did not have remarkable health problems, at least in the growth pattern and hematological and serological parameters.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
• /
• 제32권3호
• /
• pp.175-181
• /
• 2008

This study was conducted to investigate an effective recipient oocyte and culture system for producing of Hanwoo (Korean native cattle) somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos. Hanwoo ear skin fibroblasts were used as donor cells. In vitro matured Hanwoo or Holstein oocytes were enucleated, and single donor cells were transferred into the perivitelline space of the enucleated oocytes. The couplets were subsequently fused and activated. The reconstructed embryos were cultured in a conventional or sequential culture system. In the former, embryos were cultured in CR2aa medium for eight days; in the latter, embryos were cultured in modified CR2aa-A (mCR2-A) for three days and then further cultured in modified CR2aa-B (mCR2-B) for five days. In the experiment with the recipient oocyte, the rate of embryo development to the blastocyst stage was significantly (p<0.05) higher in Hanwoo recipient oocytes than in Holstein ones (48.8% vs 38.9%). BIastocysts derived from Hanwoo recipient oocytes contained significantly (p<0.05) higher numbers of total cells than those derived from Holstein recipient oocytes ($156.0{\pm}68.2$ vs $134.7{\pm}54.8$). There was no difference in the mean proportion of apoptotic cells in blastocysts between the sources of recipient oocytes. In the experiment with the embryo culture system, the blastocyst rate was somewhat higher in sequential system than in conventional system (50.0% vs 43.5%), though there was no significant difference. The numbers of total ($160.0{\pm}69.0$ vs $156.7{\pm}68.4$) and apoptotic cells ($14.0{\pm}10.4$ vs $11.8{\pm}6.4$) were not different between the culture systems. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that Hanwoo recipient oocytes and the sequential culture system were more effective in supporting the production of Hanwoo SCNT embryos.

• 한국동물생명공학회지
• /
• 제35권2호
• /
• pp.119-141
• /
• 2020

The Dromedary camel (Camelus dromedaries) is an important species because of its ability to produce good quality meat, milk, and fibers under harsh environmental conditions. Camels are also crucial for transportation, racing, and as draft animals in agriculture. Therefore, dromedary camels play a critical role in the economy for millions of people living in the arid part of the world. The inherent capability of camels to produce meat and milk is highly correlated with their reproductive performance. Compared with other domestic species, the reproductive efficiency in camelids is low. Although recent reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) have been successfully applied to camelids and the birth of live offspring following these technologies has been reported; in vitro embryo production (IVP) has lagged in this species. The development of the IVP system for dromedary camels may be a useful tool for the genetic improvement of this species. IVP in farm animals includes three main steps; in vitro maturation (IVM) of an oocyte, IVF of a matured oocyte, and in vitro culture (IVC) of fertilized oocyte up to the blastocyst stage. This review aims to summarize various factors that influence oocyte quality, IVM, and in vitro embryo development in dromedary camel.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
• /
• 제29권2호
• /
• pp.119-125
• /
• 2014

Although the majority of surviving pigs cloned by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) appear to be physiologically normal, there is a general lack of detailed hemato-physiologic studies for the period of early adulthood to substantiate this claim. In the present study, we investigated variation in blood chemistry and endocrinological parameters between mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from cloned and normal age-matched female and male miniature pigs. Cloned females and males showed normal ranges for complete blood count assessments. Biochemical assessments showed that ${\gamma}$-GGT, ALT and cholesterol levels of male and female clones were significantly (P<0.05 or P<0.01, respectively) higher than that of age-matched control miniature pigs. Variations in insulin and IGF-1 were higher in female clones than in male clones and controls. Thus, although female and male cloned miniature pigs may be physiologically similar to normal animals, or at least within normal ranges, a greater degree of physiological and endocrinological variation was found in cloned pigs. The above variation must be taken into account before considering cloned female or male miniature pigs for various biomedical applications.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
• /
• 제20권2호
• /
• pp.105-112
• /
• 2005

본 연구는 재래산양에서 복제 수정란의 생산효율을 향상시키기 위한 기초 자료를 제시하고자 체세포 핵이식을 실시하여 공핵세포의 종류, 핵이식란의 활성화 처리 방법 및 수핵난자의 조건이 체외발달율에 미치는 영향을 조사, 검토하여 핵이식란 생산을 위한 최적의 조건을 규명하고자 실시하였다. 공핵세포의 종류에 따른 핵이식란의 체외발달율은 융합이 이루어진 핵이식란의 활성화 처리 후 분할율은 귀 유래 섬유아세포를 공핵세포로 사용하였을 때가 $40.5\%$로서 태아 유래 섬유아세포를 공핵세포로 사용하였을 때의 $55.5\%$와 유의적인 차이가 없었다. 또한 상실배 또는 배반포기로의 발달율도 각각 $6.7\%$ 및 $16.0\%$로서 유의적인 차이가 없었다. 핵이식란의 활성화 방법에 따른 체외발달율은 ionomycin+6-DMAP 처리를 하였을 때 분할율은 $79.0\%$로서 전기자극을 주었을 때의 $9.5\%$보다는 유의적(P<0.05)으로 높았다. 상실배 또는 배반 포기로의 발달율도 ionomycin+6-DMAP 처리를 하였을 때는 $15.6\%$가 발달하였으나, 전기 자극을 주었을 때는 4-세포기 이후로의 발달이 전혀 이루어지지 않았다. 체세포 핵이식란은 단위발생란에 비하여 분할율$(66.1\%\;vs\;59.18\%)$ 및 상실배 또는 배반포배로의 발달율$(19.0\%\;vs\;0.0\%)$이 유의적 (P<0.05)으로 낮았다. 단위발생란의 분할율은 체내 성숙난자에서 $86.8\%$로서 난포란의 $69.0\%$보다는 유의적(P<0.05)으로 높았다 단위발생란의 상실배 또는 배반포기로의 발달율에 있어서도 체내 성숙난자$(50.0\%)$가 난포란$(23.6\%)$보다 유의적 (p.<0.05)으로 발달율이 높았다. 이상의 결과로 볼 때 재래산양의 체세포를 이용한 복제수정란의 생산효율을 향상시키기 위해서는 다수의 난자 확보를 위한 과배란처리 방법의 개선, 난포란의 이용효율 개선 및 활성화 처리방법 등이 확립되어야 하며, 후기배로의 발달율 향상을 위해서는 최적의 체외 배양조건 확립이 시급한 것으로 생각된다.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
• /
• 제35권1호
• /
• pp.67-75
• /
• 2011

The faulty regulation of imprinting gene lead to the abnormal development of reconstructed embryo after nuclear transfer. However, the correlation between the imprinting status of donor cell and preimplantation stage of embryo development is not yet clear. In this study, to determine this correlation, we used the porcine spermatogonial stem cell (pSSC) and fetal fibroblast (pFF) as donor cells. As the results, the isolated cells with laminin matrix selection strongly expressed the GFR ${\alpha}$-1 and PLZF genes of SSCs specific markers. The pSSCs were maintained to 12 passages and positive for the pluripotent marker including OCT4, SSEA1 and NANOG. The methylation analysis of H19 DMR of pSSCs revealed that the zinc finger protein binding sites CTCF3 of H19 DMRs displayed an androgenic imprinting pattern (92.7%). Also, to investigate the reprogramming potential of pSSCs as donor cell, we compared the development rate and methylation status of H19 gene between the reconstructed embryos from pFF and pSSC. This result showed no significant differences of the development rate between the pFFs ($11.2{\pm}0.8%$) and SSCs ($13.3{\pm}1.1%$). However, interestingly, while the CTCF3 methylation status of pFF-NT blastocyst was decreased (36.3%), and the CTCF3 methylation status of pSSC-NT blastocyst was maintained. Therefore, this result suggested that the genomic imprinting status of pSSCs is more effective than that of normal somatic cells for the normal development because the maintenance of imprinting pattern is very important in early embryo stage.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
• /
• 제33권3호
• /
• pp.157-162
• /
• 2009

This study was performed to comprehend the developmental characteristics of cloned embryos knocked out (KO) of $\alpha$-1,3-galactosyltransferase (GalT) gene. Immature oocytes were collected and cultured for 40 hrs (1-step) or 20hrs (with hormone) + 20hrs (without hormone) (2-step). The embryos transferred with miniature pig ear fibroblast cell were used as control. The reconstructed embryos were cultured in PZM-3 with 5% $CO_2$ in air at $38.5^{\circ}C$ for 6 days. To determine the quality of the blstocysts, TUNEL and quantitative realtime RT-PCR were performed. The embryos were transferred to a surrogate (Landrace) at an earlier stage of the estrus cycle. The maturation rate was significantly higher in 2-step method than that of 1-step (p<0.05). The blastocyst development of GalT KO embryos was significantly lower than that of normal cloned embryos (p<0.05). The total and apoptotic cell number of GalT KO blastocysts was not different statistically from control. The relative abundance of Bax-$\alpha$/Bcl-xl ratio was significantly higher in both cloned blastocysts than that of in vivo blastocysts (p<0.05). Taken together, it can be postulated that the lower developmental potential and higher expression of apoptosis related genes in GalT KO SCNT embryos might be a cause of a low efficiency of GalT KO cloned miniature pig production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제30권4호
• /
• pp.585-592
• /
• 2017

Objective: The present study investigates pre- and post-implantation developmental competence of nuclear-transferred porcine embryos derived from male and female fetal fibroblasts. Methods: Male and female fetal fibroblasts were transferred to in vitro-matured enucleated oocytes and in vitro and in vivo developmental competence of reconstructed embryos was investigated. And, a total of 6,789 female fibroblast nuclear-transferred embryos were surgically transferred into 41 surrogate gilts and 4,746 male fibroblast nuclear-transferred embryos were surgically transferred into 25 surrogate gilts. Results: The competence to develop into blastocysts was not significantly different between the sexes. The mean cell number of female and male cloned blastocysts obtained by in vivo culture ($143.8{\pm}10.5$ to $159.2{\pm}14.8$) was higher than that of in vitro culture of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) groups ($31.4{\pm}8.3$ to $33.4{\pm}11.1$). After embryo transfer, 5 pregnant gilts from each treatment delivered 15 female and 22 male piglets. The average birth weight of the cloned piglets, gestation length, and the postnatal survival rates were not significantly different (p<0.05) between sexes. Conclusion: The present study found that the sex difference of the nuclear donor does not affect the developmental rate of porcine SCNT embryos. Furthermore, postnatal survivability of the cloned piglets was not affected by the sex of the donor cell.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
• /
• 제32권4호
• /
• pp.287-295
• /
• 2017

Mitochondrial dysfunction is found in oocytes and transmitted to offspring due to maternal obesity. Treatment of obese mothers with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress inhibitors such as salubrinal (SAL) can reverse the mitochondrial dysfunction and result in normal embryonic development. Pig oocytes have also shown ER stress mostly in metaphase II stage. ER stress in oocytes may hinder the in vitro production of pig embryos. This study investigated the effect of ER stress inhibition by SAL treatment during in vitro maturation (IVM) of porcine oocytes at 1, 10, 50 and 100 nM concentrations. Firstly, we tested various concentrations of SAL. SAL at 10 nM showed higher (P < 0.05) developmental competence to the blastocyst stage (55.6%) after parthenogenesis (PA) than control (44.2%) while not different from other concentrations (49.2, 51.6, and 50.8% for 1, 50, and 100 nM, respectively). Secondly, we performed time-dependent treatment at 10 nM of SAL for IVM of oocytes. It revealed that treatment with SAL during 22 to 44 h of IVM significantly improved PA embryonic development to the blastocyst stage compared to control (40.5, 46.3, 51.7 and 60.2% for control, 0 to 22 h, 22 to 44 h and 0 to 44 h of IVM, respectively, P < 0.05). Glutathione (GSH) content is an indicator of cytoplasmic maturation of oocytes. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have a harmful effect on developmental competence of oocytes. For this, we determined the intraoocyte levels of GSH and ROS after 44 h of IVM. It was found that SAL increased intraoocyte GSH level and also decreased ROS level (P < 0.05). Finally, we performed somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) after treating oocytes with 10 nM SAL during IVM. SAL treatment significantly improved blastocyst formation of SCNT embryos compared to control (39.6% vs. 24.7%, P < 0.05). Our results indicate that treatment of pig oocytes with ER stress inhibitor SAL during IVM improves preimplantation development PA and cloned pig embryos by influencing cytoplasmic maturation in terms of increased GSH content and decreased ROS level in IVM pig oocytes.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
• /
• 제24권3호
• /
• pp.177-182
• /
• 2009

This study was conducted to investigate the variation of growth characteristics and reproductive physiology in cloned Hanwoo male calves during growing stage. The hematological parameters, body weight, and plasma hormonal levels, birth to 12 months, were analyzed in the cloned calves (n=3). Differences among treatment means were determined by a student t-test. A probability of P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. The hematological parameters, such as white blood cell, red blood cell, and platelet, were not different in both normal and cloned calves. The difference of body weight, however, was significantly higher in the cloned calves, $5{\sim}6$ months (p<0.05) and $7{\sim}12$ months (p<0.01), than that of the comparators, respectively. The plasma IGF-1 level was statistically significant in the cloned calves, $5{\sim}10$ months, compared to that of the normal calves (p<0.05). However, the plasma testosterone level was not different in both normal and clone calves according to growing stage. Taken together, the cloned Hanwoo male calves are growing faster and maintaining a normal reproductive physiology.