Ultrastructural Characterization of Porcine Growing and In Vitro Matured Oocytes.

This study aimed to investigate ultrastructural changes of growing porcine oocytes and in vitro maturated oocytes. Light microscopy was used to characterize and localize the primordial, primary, secondary, and tertiary follicles. During oocyte growth and maturation, the morphology of mitochondria was roundish or ovoid in shape depending on the differentiation state, whereas their mean diameters oscillated between 0.

Novel histone deacetylase inhibitors and embryo aggregation enhance cloned embryo development and ES cell derivation in pigs.

The histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) has been investigated for treating cancers and many other diseases as well as enhancing the reprogramming efficiency in cloned embryos for decades. In the present study, we investigated the effects of two novel HDAC inhibitors, i.e.

Derivation and characterization of putative embryonic stem cells from cloned rabbit embryos.

The present study aimed to establish embryonic stem (ES) cell lines, i.e., ntES cells, using rabbit blastocyst stage embryos cloned by somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Putative porcine embryonic stem cell lines derived from aggregated four-celled cloned embryos produced by oocyte bisection cloning.

We attempted to isolate ES cell lines using inner cell masses from high-quality cloned porcine blastocysts. After being seeded onto feeders, embryos had better (P < 0.05) attachment, outgrowth formation and primary colonization in both 2× and 3× aggregated cloned embryos (62.

Production of viable cloned miniature pigs by aggregation of handmade cloned embryos at the 4-cell stage.

The aim of the present study was to improve the quality of handmade cloned porcine embryos by multiple embryo aggregations. Embryos derived from aggregation of three cloned embryos (3×) had a better blastocyst rate than cloned control (1×) embryos (73.6% vs 35.

Ascorbic acid improves the developmental competence of porcine oocytes after parthenogenetic activation and somatic cell nuclear transplantation.

In this study, a dose-response assessment was performed to understand the relation between supplementation of media with L-ascorbic acid or vitamin C and porcine oocyte maturation and the in vitro development of parthenotes (PA) and handmade cloned (HMC) embryos. Various concentrations (0, 25, 50 and 100 μg/ml) of vitamin C supplemented in in vitro maturation (IVM) and culture (IVC) media were tested. None of these vitamin C additions affected nuclear maturation of oocytes, yet supplementation at 50 μg/ml led to significantly increased intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels and reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Trichostatin A and ascorbic acid assist in the development of porcine handmade cloned embryos via different physiologic pathways.

The objective was to determine the effects of ascorbic acid (AA), trichostatin A (TSA), and their combined treatment (TA) on reprogramming and development of cloned porcine embryos. Embryos treated with AA (50 and 100 µg/mL) had a higher blastocyst rate than controls (49.6% and 44.

Sonic Hedgehog improves in vitro development of porcine parthenotes and handmade cloned embryos.

This study investigated the expression of Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway and its effect on porcine parthenogenetic (PA) embryo development. The Shh receptor Patched (Ptc1) and co-receptor Smoothened (Smo) were expressed at various stages of PA porcine embryos, at both mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, the transcriptional activator Gli1 mRNA was first present in the 2-cell stage embryos, and was readily detected at the 4-cell stage and beyond.