Improvement in Development of Porcine Embryos Reconstituted with Cells from Blastocyst-Derived Cell Lines and Enucleated Oocytes by Optimization of Reconstruction Methods

The present study was conducted to establish the most suitable system for producing porcine reconstructed embryos by transferring cells from blastocyst-derived cell lines into enucleated oocytes. When the cells were fused to preactivated metaphase II oocytes, or the cells and arrested metaphase II oocytes were fused in medium without CaCl₂ and MgSO₄, the percentages (43-53%) of fused embryos were significantly lower than those (72-79%) produced by fusing the cells to arrested metaphase II oocytes in medium containing CaCl₂ and MgSO₄. High productive efficiency (7%) of blastocysts was obtained when reconstituted embryos produced by the last method were activated again at 3 hours after fusion (F/A → Activation). Pronuclear formation was observed in 80-91% of the reconstructed embryos produced by F/A → Activation, with no significant differences between different culture periods in the medium containing cytochalasin B. When cultured in the medium containing cytochalasin B for 0-1 h, almost all (83-85%) the embryos had one pronucleus and one polar body. However, the number of embryos with two pronuclei and no polar bodies was increased significantly by culturing in the medium containing cytochalasin B for 2-4 h. The cleavage rate (34-48%) of reconstructed embryos was not affected by the presence of cytochalasin B for 2 h after activation. However, the percentage of embryos that developed to the blastocyst stage was significantly higher in the presence (23%) than absence (5%) of cytochalasin B. The results indicate that F/A → Activation and cytochalasin B treatment are effective for the production of porcine embryos reconstituted with cells from blastocyst-derived cell lines and enucleated oocytes.