• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.81-86
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• 2017

The Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) method can be applied to various fields such as species conservation, regenerative medicine, farming industries and drug production. However, the efficiency using SCNT is very low for many reasons. One of the troubles of SCNT is that it is highly dependent on the researcher's competence. For that reason, four somatic cell nuclear injection methods were compared to evaluate the effect of hole-sealing process and existence of cytochalasin B (CB) on efficiency of murine SCNT protocol. As a results, the microinjection with the hole-sealing process, the oocyte plasma membrane is inhaled with injection pipette, in HCZB with CB was presented to be the most efficient for the reconstructed in SCNT process. In addition, we demonstrated that the oocytes manipulated in Hepes-CZB medium (HCZB) with CB does not affect the developmental rate and the morphology of the blastocyst during the pre-implantation stage. For this reason, we suggest the microinjection involving hole-sealing in HCZB with CB could improve SCNT process efficiency.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.944-949
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• 2017

Objective: Investigated the effect and mechanism of ascorbic acid on the development of porcine embryos produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Methods: Porcine embryos were produced by SCNT and cultured in the presence or absence of ascorbic acid. Ten-eleven translocation 3 (TET3) in oocytes was knocked down by siRNA injection. After ascorbic acid treatment, reprogramming genes were analyzed by realtime reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Furthermore, relative 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine content in pronucleus were detected by realtime PCR. Results: Ascorbic acid significantly increased the development of porcine embryos produced by SCNT. After SCNT, transcript levels of reprogramming genes, Pou5f1, Sox2, and Klf were significantly increased in blastocysts. Furthermore, ascorbic acid reduced 5-methylcytosine content in pronuclear embryos compared with the control group. Knock down of TET3 in porcine oocytes significantly prevents the demethylation of somatic cell nucleus after SCNT, even if in the presence of ascorbic acid. Conclusion: Ascorbic acid enhanced the development of porcine SCNT embryos via the increased TET3 mediated demethylation of somatic nucleus.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Embryo Transfer Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.75-75
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• 2002

The present study was conducted for the production of transgenic cloned cows by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) that secrete human prourokinase into milk. To establish an efficient production system for bovine transgenic SCNT embryos, the offset was examined of various conditions of donor cells including cell type, size, and passage number on the developmental competence of transgenic SCNT embryos. An expression plasmid far human prourokinase (pbeta-ProU) was constructed by inserting a bovine beta-casein promoter, a green fluorescent protein (GFP) marker gene, and a human prourokinase target gene into a pcDNA3 plasmid. Three types of bovine somatic cells including two adult cells (cumulus cells and ear fibroblasts) and fetal fibroblasts were prepared and transfected using a lipid-meidated method. In Experiment 1, developmental competence and rates of GFP expression in bovine transgenic SCNT embryos reconstructed with cumulus cells were significantly higher than those from fetal and ear fibroblasts. In Experiment 2, the effect of cellular senescence in early (2 to 4) and late (8 to 12) passages was investigated. No significant differences in the development of transgenic SCNT embryos were observed. In Experient 3, different sizes of GFP-expressing transfected cumulus cells [large (>30 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$) or small cell (<30 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$)] were used for SCNT. A significant improvement in embryo development and GFP expression was observed when small cumulus cells were used for SCNT. Taken together, these results demonstrate that (1) adult somatic cells could serve as donor cells in transgenic SCNT embryo production and cumulus cells with small size at early passage were the optimal cell type, and (2) transgenic SCNT embryos derived from adult somatic cells have embryonic development potential.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.67-76
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• 2008

Since the birth of Dolly using fully differentiated somatic cells as a nuclear donor, viable clones were generated successfully in many mammalian species. These achievements in animal cloning demonstrate developmental potential of terminally differentiated somatic cells. At the same time, the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) technique provides the opportunities to study basic and applied biosciences. However, the efficiency generating viable offsprings by SCNT remains extremely low. There are several explanations why cloned embryos cannot fully develop into viable animals and what factors affect developmental potency of reconstructed embryos by the SCNT technique. The most critical and persuasive explanation for inefficiency in SCNT cloning is incomplete genomic reprogramming, such as DNA methylation and histone modification. Numerous studies on genomic reprogramming demonstrated that incorrect DNA methylation and aberrant epigenetic reprogramming are considerably correlated with abnormal development of SCNT cloned embryos even though its mechanism is not fully understood. The SCNT technique is useful in cloning farm animals because pluripotent stem cells are not established in farm animal species. Therapeutic cloning combined with genetic manipulation will help to control various human diseases. Also, the SCNT technique provides a chance to overcome excessive demand for the organs by production of transgenic animals as xenotransplantation resources. Here, we describe the factors affecting the efficiency of generating cloned farm animals by the SCNT technique and discuss future directions of animal cloning by SCNT to improve the cloning efficiency.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2011

Large quantities of high-quality recipient oocytes with uniform cytoplasm are needed for research in the promising field of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and embryonic stem cell research. In canines, however, it is difficult to obtain large quantities of oocytes because each donor produces a limited number of mature oocytes in vivo. Although in vitro maturation (IVM) is considered an alternative approach to oocyte production, this technique is still too rudimentary to be used for the production of highquality, uniform oocytes in large quantities. One technique for overcoming this difficulty is to use oocytes obtained from different species. This technique is known as interspecies SCNT (iSCNT). This review provides an overview of recent advances in canine - porcine interspecies SCNT.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1665-1672
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• 2008

Interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) is a useful method to preserve endangered species and to study the reprogramming event of a nuclear donor cell by the oocyte. Although several studies of iSCNT using murine cells and bovine oocytes have been reported, the development of murine-bovine iSCNT embryos beyond the 8-cell stage has not been successful. In this paper, we examined the developmental potential of embryos reconstructed with a murine embryonic fibroblast as the nuclear donor and a bovine oocyte as the cytoplasm recipient. The reconstructed embryos were cultured in CZB (murine medium) or CR1aa (bovine medium). In addition, for the development of a murine-bovine iSCNT blastocyst, the antioxidant ${\beta}$-mercaptoethanol (${\beta}ME$) was supplemented to CR1aa medium. Furthermore, to verify the mouse genome activation in murine-bovine iSCNT embryos, RT-PCR analysis of murine Xist was performed. The development of the murine-bovine iSCNT embryos cultured in CR1aa was significantly higher than that in CZB (p<0.05). With respect to the effect of BME on the development of the murine-bovine iSCNT blastocyst, addition of BME produced a significant increase in blastocyst development (p<0.05). Karyotype analysis confirmed that the reconstructed embryos were derived from murine cells (40XX). The Xist gene was gradually increased from the 8-cell stage to the blastocyst stage. This is the first report of blastocyst development of iSCNT embryos derived from murine somatic cells and bovine oocytes. These results demonstrate that bovine cytoplasm can support the development of later stages of a preimplantation embryo from murine-bovine iSCNT.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.85-89
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• 2011

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a useful tool for reproducing genetically identical animals or producing transgenic animals. Many reports have demonstrated that the efficiency of animal cloning by SCNT requires reprogramming of the somatic nucleus to a totipotent like-state. The SCNT-related reprogramming might mimic the natural reprogramming process that occurs during normal mammalian development. However, recent evidence indicates that the reprogramming event by SCNT is incomplete. In this study, the traditional SCNT procedure (TNT) was modified by injecting donor nuclei into recipient cytoplasm prior to the enucleation process to expose the donor nucleus before removing the karyoplast containing the chromosomes of the oocytes which might possess additional reprogramming factors, and this modified technique was named as reversing the usual order of SCNT (RONT). Other procedures including activation and in vitro culture were the same as TNT. Contrary to expectations, the rate of blastocyst development was not different significantly between RONT and TNT (8.6% and 7.9%, respectively). However, duration of micromanipulation performed by the same technician and equipments was remarkably reduced because the ruptured oocytes after nuclear injection were excluded from the enucleation process. This study suggests that RONT, a simplified SCNT protocol, shortens the duration of SCNT procedure and this less time-costing protocol may enable the researchers to perform murine SCNT easier.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2007

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of cytochalasin B (CB) treatment in the activation medium on the development of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) rat embryos. Fetal fibroblast cells were isolated from a Day 14.5 fetus, and the oocytes for recipient cytoplasm were recovered from 4-week old Sprague Dawley rats. After enucleation and nuclear injection, the reconstructed oocytes were immediately exposed to activation medium consisting of 10 mM $SrCl_2$ with or without CB for 4 hr, and formation of pseudo-pronucleus (PPN) was checked at 18 hr after activation. Then, they were transferred into day 1 pseudopregnant recipients (Hooded Wistar) or cultured for 5 days to check their developmental competence in vivo or in vitro. The number of PPN was not affected by CB treatment during the activation. However, CB treatment supported pre-implantation development of rat SCNT embryos. Embryos generated by the procedures of SCNT were also capable of implanting, with 1 implantation scar found from a recipient following the transfer of 87 SCNT embryos to four foster mothers. The result of the present study shows that rat SCNT embryo can develop to post-implantation stage following treatment with CB.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2018

This study investigates the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and subsequent apoptosis in duced during somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) process of porcine SCNT embryos. Porcine SCNT and in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos were sampled at 3 h and 20 h after SCNT or IVF and at the blastocyst stage for mRNA extraction. The x-box binding protein 1 (Xbp1) mRNA and the expressions of ER stress-associated genes were confirmed by RT-PCR or RT-qPCR. Apoptotic gene expression was analyzed by RT-PCR. Before commencing SCNT, somatic cells treated with tunicamycin (TM), an ER stress inducer, confirmed the splicing of Xbp1 mRNA and increased expressions of ER stress-associated genes. In all the embryonic stages, the SCNT embryos, when compared with the IVF embryos, showed slightly increased expression of spliced Xbp1 (Xbp1s) mRNA and significantly increased expression of ER stress-associated genes (p<0.05). In all stages, apoptotic gene expression was slightly higher in the SCNT embryos, but not significantly different from that of the IVF embryos except for the Bax/Bcl2L1 ratio in the 1-cell stage (p<0.05). The result of this study indicates that excessive ER stress can be induced by the SCNT process, which induce apoptosis of SCNT embryos.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.197-198
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• 2016

Although three different research groups have reported successful derivations of human somatic cell nuclear transfer-derived embryonic stem cell (SCNT-ESC) lines using fetal, neonatal and adult fibroblasts, the extremely poor development of cloned embryos has hindered its potential applications in regenerative medicine. Recently, however, our group discovered that the severe methylation of lysine 9 in Histone H3 in a human somatic cell genome was a major SCNT reprogramming barrier, and the overexpression of KDM4A, a H3K9me3 demethylase, significantly improved the blastocyst formation of SCNT embryos. In particular, by applying this new approach, we were able to produce multiple SCNT-ES cell lines using oocytes obtained from donors whose eggs previously failed to develop to the blastocyst stage. Moreover, the success rate was closer to 25%, which is comparable to that of IVF embryos, so that our new human SCNT method seems to be a practical approach to establishing a pluripotent stem cell bank for the general public as well as for individual patients.