Reproductive Characteristic of Transgenic Massachusetts General Hospital Miniature Pigs for Xenotransplantation

Pigs have been extensively used as mediators of xenotransplantation research. Specifically, the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) miniature pig was developed to fix major histocompatibility antigens for use in xenotransplantation studies. We generated transgenic pigs for xenotransplantation using MGH pigs. However, it has not been studied yet whether these pigs show similarity of reproductive physiological characteristics to wild types of MGH miniature pig. In this study we analyzed the estrous cycles and pregnancy characteristics of wild type (WT) and transgenic MGH miniature pigs, which were ${\alpha}1,3$-galactosyltransferase (GalT) heterozygous and homozygous knock-out, and membrane cofactor protein (MCP) inserted in its locus, $GalT^{-MCP/+}$ and $GalT^{-MCP/-MCP}$ pigs. Estrous cycles of WT, $GalT^{-MCP/+}$ and $GalT^{-MCP/-MCP}$ pigs were $20.9{\pm}0.74$, $20.1{\pm}1.26$, and $17.3{\pm}0.87days$, respectively, and periods of estrous were $3.2{\pm}0.10$, $3.1{\pm}0.12$, and $3.1{\pm}0.11days$. The periods of gestation of WT, $GalT^{-MCP/+}$ and $GalT^{-MCP/-MCP}$ pigs were $114.2{\pm}0.37$, $113.3{\pm}0.67$, and $115.4{\pm}0.51days$, respectively. Litter sizes of WT, $GalT^{-MCP/+}$ and $GalT^{-MCP/-MCP}$ pigs were $4.8{\pm}0.35$, $4.8{\pm}1.11$ and $3.0{\pm}0.32$ respectively. There were no significant differences on estrous cycle, periods of estrous and gestation, and litter size among WT, $GalT^{-MCP/+}$ and $GalT^{-MCP/-MCP}$ pigs, meaning that GalT knock-out and additional expression MCP of the MGH miniature pig did not effect on reproduction traits. These results provide relevant information to establish breeding system for MGH transgenic pig, and for propagation of $GalT^{-MCP/-MCP}$ pig to supply for xenotransplantation research.

Massachusetts General Hospital 미니돼지 유래 이종이식용 형질전환 돼지의 번식 특성 분석