• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.223-228
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• 2009

We attempted to control the maturation promoting factor (MPF) activity and investigated the subsequent reprogramming of bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos. Serum-starved adult skin fibroblasts were fused to enucleated oocytes treated with 2.5 mM caffeine or $150\;{\mu}M$ roscovitine. The MPF activity, nuclear remodeling patterns, chromosome constitutions and development of SCNT embryos were evaluated. Methylated DNA of embryos was detected at various developmental stages. The MPF activity was increased by caffeine treatment or reduced by roscovitine treatment (p<0.05). Blastocyst development was higher in the caffeine-treated groups (27.6%) than that of the roscovitine-treated group (8.3%, p<0.05). There was no difference in the apoptotic cell index among the three groups. However, the mean cell number of blastocysts was increased in the caffeine-treated group (p<0.05). Higher methylation levels were observed in the Day 3 embryos of the roscovitine-treated group (50.8%), whereas lower methylation levels were noted at Day 5 in the caffeine-treated group (12.5%, p<0.05). These results reveal that the increase in MPF activity via a caffeine-treatment creates a more suitable condition for nuclear reprogramming after SCNT.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.287-291
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• 1994

In order to elucidate the effect of abscisic acid (ABA) on the abnormality of somatic embryos, somatic embryos were induced from embryogenic cell clumps derived from cotyledon segment of Aralia cordata. When embryogenic cell clumps were pretreated medium containing 0.2 mg/L ABA for 3 weeks before transferring to MS basal medium, the frequency of embryos with normal cotyledons enhanced 68% as compared with control. However when clumps pretreated in medium containing 0.2 mg/L ABA were transferred to medium containing 0.1 mg/L ABA, the Sequency decreased to about 29%. In the case of globular embryos cultures in medium containing various concentrations of ABA (0.01 to 1.0mg/L), the frequency of dicotyledonary embryo formation decreased propotionally to ABA concentration. Also, when somatic embryos at various stages were cultured in medium containing ABA, those with polycotyledons appeared at higher frequency.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.249-253
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• 2008

Interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) is a valuable tool for studying the interactions between an oocyte and somatic nucleus. The object of this study was to investigate the developmental competence of in vitro-matured porcine oocytes after transfer of the somatic cell nuclei of 2 different species (goat and rabbit). Porcine cumulus oocytes were obtained from the follicles of ovaries and matured in TCM-199. The reconstructed embryos were electrically fused with 2 DC pulses of 1.1kV/cm for $30{\mu}s$ 0.3M mannitol medium. The activated cloned embryos were cultured in porcine zygote medium-3 (PZM-3), mSOF or RDH medium for 7 days. The blastocyst formation rate of the embryos reconstructed from goat or rabbit fetal fibroblasts was significantly lower than that of the embryos reconstructed from porcine fetal fibroblast cells. However, a significantly higher number of embryos reconstructed from goat or rabbit fetal fibroblasts cultured in mSOF or RDH, respectively, developed to the morular stage than those cultured in PZM-3. These results suggest that goat and bovine fetal fibroblasts were less efficacious than porcine-porcine cloned embryos and that culture condition could be an important factor in iSCNT. The lower developmental potential of goat-porcine and porcine-bovine cloned embryos may be due to incompatibility between the porcine oocyte cytoplasm and goat and bovine somatic nuclei.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.60-60
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• 2001

Human thrombopoietin (hTPO) is a cytokine that plays a central role in megakaryopoiesis by influencing on the development and maturation of megakaryocyte and platelet production. To induce hTPO production in the mammary gland, expression vector was constructed by combining the promoter of bovine beta-casein gene, cDNA of hTPO and neomycine resistance gene for transfection into fibroblasts. Bovine fibroblast cells derived from female ear skin were transfercted with the expression vector using Lipofectamine (Life Technology, NY). Transected cells resistant to G4l8 treatment (600 $\mu\textrm{g}$/$m\ell$) were recovered and colony formation was initiated at 13 days. The colonies with about 1 cm diameter were picked and analysed by PCR. Single transfected cells were individually transferred to enucleated oocytes. After electrofusion, the reconstructed embryos were exposed to calcium ionophore (5uM) for 5 min followed by treatment with 6-DMAP (2.5 mM) for 4h. The nuclear transfer embryos were cultured in CRlaa medium at 38.5C, 5% $CO_2$ for 7 days. Twenty three of 29 (79.3%) colonies were proved to be hTPO transfectants by PCR. The colonies were further passaged and used to produce transgenic embryos using nuclear transfer. Cleavage and developmental rates of reconstructed embryos to the blastocyst stage were 65.1% and 39.4%, respectively Of 22 blastocysts that developed from reconstructed embryos with the transfected cell, 20 embryos (90.9%) were positive for hTPO by using PCR analysis. The results suggest that somatic cell nuclear transfer is efficient for production of transgenic embryos.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 2002

Human Prourokinase (proUK) offers potential as a novel agent with improved fibrin specificity and, as such, may offer advantages as an attractive alternative to urokinase that is associated with clinical benefits in patients with acute peripheral arterial occlusion. For production of transgenic cow as human proUK bioreacotor, we conducted this study to establish efficient production system for bovine transgenic embryos by somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT) using human prourokinase gene transfected donor cell. An expression plasmid for human prourokinase was constructed by inserting a bovine beta-casein promoter, a green fluorescent protein (GFP) marker gene, and human prourokinase target gene into a pcDNA3 plasmid. Cumulus cells were used as donor cell and transfected with the expression plasmid using the Fugene 6 as a carrier. To increase the efficiency for the production of transgenic NT, development rates were compared between non-transfected and transfected cell in experiment 1, and in experiment 2, development rates were compared according to level of GFP expression in donor cells. In experiment 1, development rates of non-transgenic NT embryos were significantly higher than transgenic NT embryos (43.3 vs. 28.4％). In experiment 2, there were no significant differences in fusion rates (85.4 vs. 78.9％) and cleavage rates (78.7 vs. 84.4％) between low and high expressed cells. However, development rates to blastocyst were higher in low expressed cells (17.0 vs. 33.3％), and GFP expression rates in blastocyst were higher in high expressed cells (75.0 vs. 43.3％), significantly.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.153-162
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• 1989

Expedments were perfonned to examine the role of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PK-A) and diacylglycerol-dependent protein kinase (PK-C) during the meiodc resumption and the first mitotic cell cycle of mouse embryogenesis. Mejoric GV oocytes and one-cell embryos derived from in vitro fertilization were cultured in vitro, and morphological changes in response to activators of PK-A and PK-C were examined. Treatments with a membrane-permeable cAMP analog, dbcAMP (0.1 mg/mi), phosphodiesterase inhibitor, IBMX (0.1 mM), biologically active phorbol ester, WA (10 nglmi), or a synthetic diacylglycerol, sn-diC8 inhibited resumption of melosis. Combination of PK-A and PK-C activator brought about furiher inhibition. On the contrary, dbcAMP (0.1 mg/mi), IBMX (0.2 mM), WA (10 nglml), and sn-diC8 (0.5 mM) did not inhibit pronucleus membrane breakdown (PNBD) when added S or G2 phase of cell cycle. However, activators of PK-C inhibited cleavage of one-cefl embryos. This result indicates that the action mechanism of PK-A and PK-C on dissolution of nuclear membrane in primary meiotic arrest oocytes may be different from that of mitotic one-cell embryos.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.293-302
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• 1997

Follicular oocytes of Grade I and II were collected from 2~6 mm ovarian follicles and matured in vitro (IVM) for 24 hrs in TCM-199 su, pp.emented with 35$\mu\textrm{g}$/ml FSH, 10$\mu\textrm{g}$/ml LH, and 1$\mu\textrm{g}$/ml estradiol-17$\beta$ at 39$^{\circ}C$ under 5% CO2 in air. They were fretilized in vitro (IVF) by epididymal spermatozoa capacitated with heparin for 12 hrs. The zygotes were then co-cultured in vitro with bovine oviducted epithelial cells (BOEC) for 7 to 9 days. The optimal time for IVM, the successful enucleation of IVM oocytes by micromanipulation at different oocyte ages after IVM, and the ideal culture system for IVM for effective IVF and in vitro development of IVM-IVF embryos was examined for in vitro production of nuclear recipient oocytes and nuclear donor embryos. To improve the efficiency of nuclear transplantation (NT) of IVF embryo into IVM follicular oocytes, this study evaluated the optimal electric condition and oocytes age for activation of IVM oocytes and in vitro development of NT embryos. In vitro development of NT embryos with preactivation or non-preactivation in enucleation oocytes, cell number of IVN-IVF embryos, and NT embryos wre also examined. The results obtained were as follows; 1. The most suitable enucleation time was at 24 hpm (83.3%) rather than that of 28 hpm(69.6%) and 32 hpm(50.0%). 2. There was no difference among the fusion rates of NT embryos at the voltages of 0.75, 1.0 and 1.5 kV/cm, but the in vitro development rates to morule and blastocyst were significantly (P<0.05) higher at the voltage of 0.75(12.5%) and 1.0kV/cm (12.6%) compared to 1.5kV/cm(0%). 3. No significant difference in activation rates were seen in NT embryos stimulated for 30, 60 and 120 $\mu$sec (71.7, 85.2 and 71.9%, respectively), but the in vitro development rates to morulae and blastocyst were significantly (P<0.05) higher in the oocytes stimulated for 30 $\mu$sec (11.6%) and 60 $\mu$sec(10.7%) than 120 $\mu$sec(0.0%). 4. The fusion rates (71.0 and 87.3%) and the in vitro development rates (9.1 and 12.7%) to morula and blastocyst were seen in the NT embryos stimulated at 28 and 32 hpm under the condition of 1.0 kV/ml, 60 $\mu$sec. However, at 24 hpm the fusion rates were 64.8% and the in vitro development to morula and blastocyst were not seen. 5. The fusion rates between the 8~12, 13~17 and 18~22-cell stage of IVM-IVF embryos were not significantly different. The in vitro development rates of the fused embryos to morula and blastocyst which were received from a blastomere of 8~12, 13~17 and 18~22-cell stages of IVM-IVF embryos were 14.9, 8.3 and 6.5%, respectively. 6. The in vitro development rate of the enucleated recipient oocytes with preactivation (24.2%) to morula and blastocyst was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of non-preactivation (12.8%). 7. The cell numbers of NT blastocyst and IVM-IVF blastocyst cultured during 7~9 days were 63$\pm$11 and 119$\pm$23, and then their the mean cell cycle number were 5.98 and 6.89, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.229-234
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• 1991

Thc chimeric morulae were produced following aggregation of the half embryos which were microsurgically bisected at 8-cell and early morula stage. Different phenotypic embryos were obtained by mating ICR female mice with ICR or CBA male mice. The early morula stage was thc desirable stage for the aggregation of mouse embryos after bisection. The post-thawed survival rates of bisected-aggregated embryos that developed into normal blastocyst after conventional freezing in DMSO and ethylene glycol were 30.5 and 32.896, respectively. One offspring was produced by transferring the 67 frozen-thawed bisected-aggregated embryos.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2005

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different hexoses (glucose, mannose, galactose and fructose) on in vitro development of parthenogenetic embryos in the pigs. When the parthnogenetic embryos were cultured in medium with concentrations of 5mM glucose or 1mM galactose, the rates of embyos developed to morula and blastocyst stages were significantly higher than those in another culture conditions (P<0.05). However, high concentration of galactose inhibited development to morula and blastocyst stages. Addition of hexoses at early stage of porcine parthenogenetic embryos were effective for in vitro development. Especially, the embryos cultured in medium with glucose at early stage were effective for development to 2-cell $(72\%)$ and blastocyst $(19\%)$ stages compared with embryo cultured without glucose. From the present results, it is suggested that development of porcine parthenogenetic embryos can improve in medium with 5mM glucose. The concentration of 1mM galactose was also effective for development of porcine parthenogenetic embryos. It also show that parthenogenetic embryos cultured with glucose at early stage can improve in vitro development.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.201-210
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• 1996

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of early mouse embryonic development in vitro by co-culture with bovine and porcine oviductal epithelial cells (BOEC and POEC). The 2-cell embryos were collected from the oviducts of the superovulated and mated cultured in D-PBS /15% FCS at 48 hours after hCG injection. The in vitro developmental rate of blastocyst formation in the embryos were examined under the fllowing treatments; 1) TCM 199 added 15% HCS, 2) Ham's F-10 added 15% HCS, 3) MediCult IVF medium, 4) TCM 199 added 15% HCS + BOEC, 5) TCM 199 added 15% HCS + POEC, 6) Ham's F40 added 15% HCS + BOEC, 7) Ham's F-10 added 15% HCS + POEC,8) MediCult IVF medium + BOEC, 9) MediCult IVF medium + POEC. For a comparative study of in vitro development for 96 hours after hCG injection, were cultured with oviductal epithelial cell and media only. The obtained results were 2-cell embryos developed to the blastocyst stage in TCM 199, Ham's F-10 and MediCult IVF medium at the rates of 84.4,83.2 and 81.6%. respectively. The higher developmental rates(91~97%) of blastocyst formation was appeared when the embryos were co-cultured with a monolayer of bovine or porcine oviductal epithelial cells in TCM 199 or Ham's F-10 and MediCult IVF media. No significant difference in developmental rates was shown between bovine and porcine oviductal epithelial cells but significant difference in co-culture system in comparison between media only system and co-cultures. In conclusions, oviductal epithelial cells, BOEC and POEC, when co-culture with mouse early embryos improved the rates of development, blastocyst and hatching. Therefore, it is suggested that co-culture system using oviductal epithelial cells improve early embryonic developtnent in mouse.