• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.69-75
• /
• 2003

The objective of this study is to improve the efficiency of embryo transfer in generation of transgenic mice using inbred mouse (C57BL/6J) embryos. The embryos of C57BL/6J and BCF1 mice were superovulated by the standard protocol. One-cell stage of embryos were microinjected and the resulted one-or two-cell were transferred into one-or two-side oviducts of foster mother, respectively. When one-cell stage of embryos were transferred into one-side oviduct of 0.75 d.p.c. foster mother, the results were not ideal because of showing pregnancy ratios of 68.8$\pm$7.83% for C57BL/6J and 48.3$\pm$14.22% for BCF1, and development ratios of pups vs transferred embryos of 11.9$\pm$5.51% for C57BL/6J and 10.5$\pm$8.03% fur BCF1 . However, when two-cell stage of embryos were transferred into two-side oviducts of 0.5 d.p.c. foster mother, we got better results of 94.4$\pm$9.64% and 100$\pm$0% pregnancy ratio, and 22.1$\pm$0.4% and 21.8$\pm$0.38% development ratio for C57BL/6J and BCF1, respectively. Therefore, transferring two-cell stage of C57BL/6J embryos into two-side oviducts of 0.5 d.p.c. foster mother may be competitive to the result in BCF1 embryos. Even if there are a lot of other factors affecting these results, we conclude from these experiments that transfer of two-cell embryos into two-side oviducts of 0.5 d.p.c. foster mother is a more efficient and safe method than others in generating transgenic mice using inbred mice embryos.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.161-166
• /
• 1994

This experiment was carried out to produce cloned aniraals by nuclear transplantation in rabbits. The ovulated oocytes were collected from the oviducts between 14 and 15 hours after hGG injection. The denuded oocytes were used as nuclear recipient cytoplasm following enucleation by micromanipulation. The blastomeres separated from the 8-cell embryos were used as nuclear donor. The nucleated oocytes receiving a blastomere in the perivitelline space were electrically fused in the 0.28 M mannitol solution at 1.5 kV /cm, 60$\mu$sec for three times. The nuclear transplant embryos which were used and developed to 2- to 4-cell stage in vitro were transferred into the oviducts of synchronized recipient does. A total of 64 nuclear transplant embryos were transferred to 7 recipient does and produced three offspring(4.7%) from a foster mother 31 days after embryo transfer.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.223-229
• /
• 1997

This study was carried out to determine the effect of uterus shortening on the pvaries, the length of uterine horn and the recovery of embryos. The length of the shortened uterine horns increased more in part of uterine tip from connecting part for shortening than in base (P<0.05), and collection of embryos was also difficult in gilts because of its narrow pelvis. The embryos collected surgically from gilts with shortened uterine horns were developed into 2~8cells (87.5%) 3days and 4cell~morula (88.9%) 5days after mating.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.6-12
• /
• 1988

The possibility of embryo transfer technique in pigs to introduce a new genetic material into closed herds for disease control was investigated. The results investigated were as follows: 1. The exhibiting rate of estrus on the administration of altrenogest and PMSG ranged from 83.3 to 100% and the estrus exhibited within 4.0 - 5.3 days after the administration of altrenogest. 2. The average number of ovulation points per pig by the injection of PMSG and HCG were 14.0 - 30.7. 3. The average number of recovered embryos per pig was 15.7, and 72.8% of embryos were recovered. 4. The pregnancy rate of recipients was 63.6% and the survival rate of transferred embryos were 21%. 5. When the 1-cell embryos were cultured for 24hrs, they were all developed. Therefore it is possible to recover and preserve the embryos from the donor pigs which have high genetic ability, and to transfer embryos to recipient pigs which are separated from donor pigs in Korea.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
• /
• 2003.06a
• /
• pp.56-56
• /
• 2003

Beta-catenin is very important in early development including involvement in cell adhesion, cell signaling, and developmental fate specification. Cell-cell interaction is an important process during mammalian embryonic development. In preimplantation embryos, embryonic compaction is the process of increased cellular flattening and adhesion of junctional complexes and results in a polarized distribution. Beta-catenin is associated with embryonic compaction in mammals. Here, we examined the relationship between beta-catenin expression and compaction in porcine embryos derived from in vitro fertilization. First of all, we investigated beta-catenin expression in each embryonic developmental stage and also focused on expression pattern according to full, partial and non-compaction at morula stage. We used the immunocyto-chemical method in this research. To confirm compaction affects on the embryonic development, we compared between compaction and developmental rates to the blastocyst. The result showed that compaction and non-compaction rates were 14.6% and 63.8% at 4 days after IVF, respectively The developmental rates to the blastocyst and their total cell number were 50.9% vs 36.4% and 41.4$\pm$11.5 vs 26.8$\pm$12.7 in compaction and non-compaction groups. Although no difference was detected in the ratio of ICM to total cells between two groups, total cell number of the blastocysts in compaction group was superior to that of the blastocysts in non-compaction group (P<0.05). Expression of beta-catenin appeared in the boundary of membrane surface between blastomeres in 2- and 4-cell stage, and observed irregular pattern from 8-cell to blastocyst stage. We also investigated beta-catenin expression pattern according to the degree of compaction in the 3 groups; full, partial (>50%) and non-compaction. The expression signal in fully compacted embryos was stronger than those of partial and non-compacted embryos. Especially, beta-catenin expression appeared various patterns in morula stage suggesting the aberrant distribution of beta-catenin is affected by compaction patterns. Our results suggest that abnormal beta-catenin expression was affected by embryo quality and further development in porcine embryos in vitro.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.261-265
• /
• 1997

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of EGF to the in vivo development of mouse IVF/IVC embryo. The 2-cell embryos were cultured in medium (5-6 embryos/25 ${\mu}l$/drop) w/wo EGF (10 ng/ml) and day 4 blastocysts recovered from each treatment group were transferred into the uteri of recipients of pseudopregnant day 3. The results obtained in this experiment were summarized as follows: 1. When the effect of EGF to the in vitro development and cell number of blastocysts produced from the culture of 2-cell embryos in w/wo EGF was determined, those results of EGF treatment group showed not significant difference compared with control. 2. However, when the effect of EGF to the in vivo development of blastocysts recovered from each treatment group was examined, production of the normal fetus against transferred embryos in EGF treatment group (51.2%) was very higher than that in control group (31.1%), although total implantation was not significantly different between treatment group (control: 64.4%, EGF: 69.8%). Therefore, this result suggested that EGF can affect to the in vivo development of IVF/IVC embryos through the improvement of embryo quality, although EGF treated embryos showed not significant development rate compared with control.

• Development and Reproduction
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.197-203
• /
• 1998

DNA methylation seems to play an important regulatory role in gene expression and cell differentiation during postimplantation embryonic development. However, the significance of DNA methylation which is maintained by the DNA MTase during preimplantation embryonic development, is not fully understood. In order to study the role of DNA methylation in the preimplantation embryos, the expression of DNA MTase transcripts was monitored in the oocytes and preimplantation embryos. The mRNA of DNA MTase was detected in the oocytes and pleimplantation embryos. The relative mRNA levels of DNA MTase were high from the stages of GV-oocytes and pronuclear embryos, and thereafter decreased gradually. By the treatment of $\alpha$-amanitin, it was confirmed that the transcripts presented in pronuclear embryos was derived from the maternal genome. The presence of transcripts of DNA MTase in the oocytes and pronuclear embryos suggests that the maintenance of DNA methylation may be necessary and seems to play an important role in gene expression and cell differentiation during preimplantation embryonic develop-ment in mouse.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.71-76
• /
• 2009

It is not easy for porcine embryos produced by in vitro systems to develop into blastocysts with high quality. To solve this problem, many researchers have developed novel culture methods. However, the formation of blastocysts with high quality is still low. In this study, we aimed to produce piglet following transfer of in vitro produced early embryos ($2{\sim}4$ cell stage embryos) or morula and blastocyst. The $2{\sim}4$ cell stage embryos were transferred to five estrus-synchronized recipients (200 embryos per recipient). One of the five sows farrowed three piglets, which contain two live piglets and one dead piglet, 114 days after embryo transfer. However, two recipients transferred with morula and blastocysts did not farrow. Microsatellite analysis confirmed that the genomic DNA of two live piglets were not genetically identical to that of the recipient. These results indicate that it is possible to obtain piglets by transfer of early embryos produced by in vitro production (IVP) systems.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.221-228
• /
• 2018

The osmolarity of a medium that is commonly used for in vitro culture (IVC) of oocytes and embryos is lower than that of oviductal fluid in pigs. In vivo oocytes and embryos can resist high osmolarities to some extent due to the presence of organic osmolytes such as glycine and alanine. These amino acids act as a protective shield to maintain the shape and viability in high osmotic environments. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of glycine or/and alanine in medium with two different osmolarities (280 and 320 mOsm) during IVC on embryonic development after parthenogenesis (PA) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in pigs. To this end, IVC was divided into two stages; the 0-2 and 3-7 days of IVC. In each stage, embryos were cultured in medium with 280, 320, or 360 mOsm and their combinations with or without glycine or/and alanine according to the experimental design. Treatment groups were termed as, for example, "T(osmolarity of a medium used in 0-2 days of IVC)-(osmolarity of a medium used in 3-7 days of IVC)" T280-280 was served as control. When PA embryos were cultured in medium with various osmolarities, T320-280 showed a significantly higher blastocyst formation (29.0%) than control (22.2%) and T360-360 groups (6.9%). Glycine treatment in T320-280 significantly increased blastocyst formation (50.4%) compared to T320-280 only (36.5%) while no synergistic was observed after treatment with glycine and alanine together in T320-280 (45.7%). In contrast to PA embryonic development, the stimulating effect by the culture in T320-280 was not observed in SCNT blastocyst development (27.6% and 23.7% in T280-280 and T320-280, respectively) whereas the number of inner cell mass cells was significantly increased in T320-280 (6.1 cells vs. 9.6 cells). Glycine treatment significantly improved blastocyst formation of SCNT embryos in both T280-280 (27.6% vs. 38.0%) and T320-280 (23.7% vs. 35.3%). Our results demonstrate that IVC in T320-280 and treatment with glycine improves blastocyst formation of PA and SCNT embryos in pigs.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 1992

A fluorescence microscopy technique using flurescein diacetateCFDA) as a substract has been tested for the evaluation of the viability of early mouse embryos. Embryos were incubated in T6 containing FDA concentrations of 2.5 to $50{\mu}g/ml$ for 1 to 5min. Embryos were then examined by reflected light fluorescence using a KP 490 and 520 barrier filter in a Nicon Diaphot microscopy. The results were as follow. 1. The rate of fluorescein accumulation increased on the concentration on FDA from $2.5{\times}10^{-6}M$ to $20{\times}10^{-6}M$ 2. The rate at which intracellular fluorescein was lost from embryos was depended on the temperature at which are stored. 3. Embryos with 3 min exposure to FDA have the most intensity of fluorescence. 4. Exposure of 2 cell embryos to FDA ($2.5-5{\mu}g/ml$) for 1 min did not alter their ability to delope normally in vitro.