• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2004

This study was conducted to investigate the developmental ability of caprine embryos after somatic cell interspecies nuclear transfer. Donor cells were obtained from an ear-skin biopsy of a caprine, digested with 0.25% trypsin-EDTA in PBS, and primary fibroblast cultures were established in TCM-199 with 10% FBS. After maturation, expanded cumulus cells were removed by vigorous pipetting in the presence of 0.3% hyaluronidase. The matured oocytes were dipped in D-PBS plus 10% FBS＋7.5 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml cytochalasin B and 0.05 M sucrose. The reconstructed oocytes were electrically fused with donor cells in 0.3 M mannitol fusion medium. After the electofusion, embryos were activated by electric stimulation. Interspecies nuclear transfer embryos with bovine cytoplasts were cultured in TCM-199 medium supplemented with 10% FBS including bovine oviduct epithelial cells for 7∼9 day. On the other hand, the NT embryos with porcine cytoplasts were cultured in NCSU-23 medium supplemented with 10% FBS for 6∼8 day at $39^{\circ}C, 5% CO_2$ in air. In caprine-bovine NT embryos, the cleavage(2-cell) rate was 36.8% in confluence and 43.8% in serum starvation. The developmental rate of morula- and blastocyst-stage embryos was 0.0% in confluence and 18.8% in serum starvation. In caprine-porcine NT embryos, the cleavage(2-cell) rate was 76.7% in confluence and 66.7% in serum starvation. The developmental rate of morula and blastocyst stage embryos was 3.3% in confluence and 3.0% in serum starvation, and no significant difference was observed in synchronization treatment between donor cells. In caprine-bovine NT embryos, the cleavage(2-cell) rate of cultured donor cells was 30.8% and 17.6% in 5∼9 and 10∼14 passage(P＜0.05). The developmental rate of morula and blastocyst stage embryos were significantly higher(P＜0.05) in 5∼9 passage(23.1%) than in 10∼14 passage(0.0%) of cultured donor cells. In caprine-porcine NT embryos, the cleavage rate was significantly higher(P＜0.05) in 5∼9 passage(86.7%) than in 10∼14 passage(50.0%) of cultured donor cells. The developmental rate of morula and blastocyst stage embryos were 3.3 and 0.0% in 5∼9 and 10∼14와 passage of cultured donor cells. In caprine-bovine NT embryos, the developmental rate of morula and blastocyst stage embryos were 22.6% in interspecies nuclear transfer, 33.9% in in vitro fertilization and 28.1% in parthenotes, which was no significant differed. The developmental rate of morula and blastocyst stage embryos with caprine-porcine NT embryos were lower(P＜0.05) in interspecies nuclear transfer(5.1%) than in vitro fertiltzation(26.9%) and parthenotes(37.4%).

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.108-108
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• 2003

The purpose of this is to investigate the effects of vitrification in open pulled straws (OPS) on in vitro survival of porcine embryos. Blastocysts were produced by in vitro fertilization of slaughterhouse-derived, in vitro matured oocytes with frozen-thawed boar semen, and subsequent culture on granulosa cell monolayer. After frozen-thawing, embryos were culture in NCSU-23 medium with 5 mM hypotaurine, 4 mg/$m\ell$ BSA and 10 ng/$m\ell$ for 48 hrs to survival tests. When blastocysts were frozen-thawed by OPS methods, the embryos with normal morphology were 32.1, 34.5 and 38.9 % in early blastocyst, blastocyst and expanded blastocyat stages. The rates of partial damaged embryos were significantly (P<0.05) higher in early biastocysts than expanded blastocysts. In another experiment, the embryos frozen by OPS methods were cultured for 48 hrs for survival and developmental rates in vitro. The proportions of embryos hatched were 11.8, 20.2 and 33.3% in embryos frozen-thawed at stages of early blastocyst, blastocyst and expanded embryos. On the other hand, The proportions of embryo with normal morphology after culture were 23.5, 25.0 and 33.3% in embryos frozen-thawed at stages of early blastocyst, blastocyst and expanded embryos. These finding indicate the possible broader application for OPS methods that this procedure described is relatively harmless, that it can be used for blastocysts of different developmental stages.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2000

Membrane type matrix metalloproteinases(MT-MMPs) have been suggested to play an important role during structural remodeling of various tissue. Expression patterns of MT1-MMP and MT2-MMP mRNAs were investigated in oocytes, embryos, ovary and oviduct of mouse during their differentiation or periovulatory period using RT-PCR technique. Both cDNA products of MT1- and MT2-MMP of immature oocytes were barely discernable with a minimum amount but the expressions were distinct in mature oocytes regardless that they were matured in vivo or in vitro. MT2-MMP was not expressed by 2-cell embryos but was expressed by 4-cell stage embryos. From the morula stage untill hatched blastocyst stage, embyos showed intesnse expression of MT2-MMP with a sudden increase at blastocyst stage. While mouse ovarian tissues showed both expression of MT1- and MT2-MMP, there was no stage-specific difference throughout the estrous cycle. Mouse oviducts also exhibit constant amount of both MT1- and MT2-MMP expressions throughout periovulatory period, i.e., before or after ovulation. These observations lead to suggest that the differential expressions of maternal MT1- and MT2-MMP during meiotic resumption of mouse oocytes and embryonic expression of MT2-MMP particularly at blastocyst stage might play a role in the differentiation of mouse oocytes and／or embryos. The precise function of MT1- and MT2-MMP with regards to their participation in the remodeling of ovarian and oviductal tissues remains in a question.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.219-227
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• 2004

This study was conducted to develop a serum-free, defined medium of IVM of pig oocytes. The TCM-199 with supplemented with polyvinylalcohol(PVA), polyvinylpyrrollidone(PVP) and porcine follicular fluid(pFF) were used as basal medium. The effects of the these additives on the rates of maturity and development under in-vitro fertilization and in vitro culture were examined and subsequently considered on the possibilities be sustituted for the bovine serum albumin(BSA). Maturation rate of pig oocytes in IVM media containing PVA(82.4％), pFF(89.4％) and BSA(90.0％) were significantly higher(P<0.05) than that of PVP(78.6％). Cleavage rate after IVF of PVP(64％) was significantly lower(P<0.05) than these of PVA(73％), pFF(77％) and BSA(73％) supplements. in vitro development rates to morulae and blastocyst on PVP(54％) were also significantly lower(P<0.05) than these of the supplements of PVA(63％), pFF(69％) and BSA(65％). In comparison of maturation and fertilization rates of pig oocytes in each supplements, the maturity rates of PVA(82.4％), pFF(89.4％) and BSA(90.0％) were significantly lower(P<0.05) than that of PVP(72.4％) and while, the fertilization rates of pFF(87.1％) and BSA(89.1％) were significantly higher(P<0.05) than these of PVA(78.0％) and PVP(70.6％). It may be concluded that PVA and pFF can be substituted far BSA in medium for culturing pig oocytes; however, it may be considered that PVP were limited to for BSA in the in vitro culture of the embryos.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.99-106
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• 2001

This study was undertaken to compare the efficiency of recovery rate and development rate of follicular oocytes collected either by aspiration or by slicing method. The follicular oocytes collected by the two methods matured in TCM199 supplemented with 10% steer serum at 39$^{\circ}C$ in a humidified atmosphere of 5% $CO_2$in air. After 22 h of culture, the oocytes were inseminated with frozen-thawed semen (2$\times$10$^{6}$ sperm/ml of final concentration) prepared with Percoll-density gradient in IVF-TALP medium for 16 h. Later, sets of 15 presumptive zygotes were transferred into 50 $\mu$L, droplets of CR1aa medium. On day 4 of the culture, embryos were transferred to TCM199 until day 9. The percentages of nuclear maturation to pre-metaphase II in the oocytes collected by aspiration are significantly (P<0.05) higher than that by slicing (83% vs. 62%, respectively). The mean number of oocytes recovered by slicing per ovary is significantly (P<0.05) higher than that by aspiration (15.1 vs. 6.7, respectively). Although the rates of cleavage and development to blastocyst of oocytes collected b)\\\\`aspiration are significantly (P<0.05) higher than that by slicing, the number of transferable embryos obtained by slicing method is significantly (P<0.05) higher than that by aspiration. From the results. we may conclude that slicing method is better than aspiration method for obtaining large number of transferable embryos per ovary.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Embryo Transfer Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.69-69
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• 2002

Transgenic animals production tools have been valuable for research and purpose. The current methods of gene transfer, microinjection and nuclear transfer, which are widely used in transgenic animal production, but all most methods has only had limited success in production of larger species. Here, we report the possibility of a sperm-mediated gene transfer method in porcine embryos. Oocytes were collected from ovaries harvested at a local slaughterhouse were matured in 500${mu}ell$ drops of TCM-199 under mineral oil at 38.5$^{\circ}C$ in a humidified atmosphere of 5%CO2 in air. After 42-43h of in vitro maturation oocytes were denuded. for sperm injection into the cytoplasm of the porcine oocytes, sperm suspension in NIM medium are subjected extraction with TritonX-100 before mixing with a green fluorescent gene (GFP). Sperm with Tritonx-100 were prepared by adding TritonX-100 to a final volume of 0.05% in the sperm suspension and mixing by trituration for 60s before two wishes in NIM medium at 2$^{\circ}C$. A(ter wishing, sperm were mixed with TritonX-100 at $25^{\circ}C$ followed by washes at 2$^{\circ}C$. Sperm were resuspended in ice cold NIM to a final volume of 400${mu}ell$ and 2-20ng/${mu}ell$ DNA were triturated on ice for 60s. All microinjection was performed in HEPES-buffered CZB medium at room temperature within 2h. After culture in NCSU-23 for 72h, percent of porcine embryos transfected GFP gene are 20.7%(6/29) in 20ng/${mu}ell$ sperm-DNA mixed group and other groups were 3.7 %(2/54)and 4.7%(3/67). These data suggests that sperm-mediated gene transfer method should be used to the production tool of transgenic pig efficiently.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.157-162
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• 2006

It is well known that unidentified factors in sera, hormones and growth factors promote the proliferation of granulosa cells and nuclear maturation of bovine COCs (cumulus oocytes complexes) in vitro. Attempts had been developed the simple composition of culture media and similar system to in vivo conditions has been applied. In the present study, we investigated the effect of FGF (fibroblast growth factor) on in vitro maturation and in vitro development of Hanwoo COCs. When the COCs were matured in HPM 199 (Inst. of Functional peptide, Japan) containing 0.1, 1 and 10 ng/ml FGF for 24 hr, maturation rates to metaphase II ($70.0{\sim}75.0%$) were significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of control group (0 ng/ml FGF, 37.5%). When matured COCs with FGF were cultured in maturation medium after in vitro fertilization, developmental rates to blastocysts were 9.5, 0 and 2.9%, respectively, compared to 25.0% of the control group (p<0.05). When the matured COCs with FGF were cultured in HPM 199 (IFP971, Inst. of Functional peptide, Japan) containing 10% FBS, 0.8% BSA or 0.1% PVA (polyvinyl alcohol), the blastocyst formation rates were 12.4, 12.8 and 8.5%, respectively, while the rates of matured COCs with FGF and cultured with IVMD and IVD (Inst. of Functional peptide, Japan) without serum were 38.4% and 34.8%, respectively (p<0.05). These results suggested that FGF is available for in vitro maturation of bovine COCs and is not suitable for in vitro development, but further investigation would be need for finding the synergistic autocrine/paracrine fashion of other growth factors in early bovine embryo development.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.245-249
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• 2007

The aim of present experiment was to examine hatching rate as in vitro indicator of viability of porcine embryos before early stage embryo transfer such as zygotes or 2-cell stage embryos. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) collected from ovaries were matured in North Carolina State University 23 (NCSU-23) containing 10% porcine follicular fluid (pFF), 10 ng/ml epidermal growth factor (EGF), $10{\mu}g/ml$ follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), $35{\mu}g/ml$ luteinizing hormone (LH), and 1mg/ml cysteine. After 24 hours, the COCs were transferred to the same medium without hormones. After 65h of maturation, oocytes were exposed to phosphate buffered saline (PBS) with 7% ethanol (v/v) for 7 minutes, and then the oocytes were washed and cultured in tissue culture medium (TCM) 199 containing 5 ug/ml cytochalasin B for 5h at $38.5^{\circ}C$ in an atmosphere of 5% $CO_2$ and 95% air with high humidity. After cytochalasin B treatment, the presumptive parthenotes were cultured in porcine zygote medium (PZM)-5 and cleavage of the parthenotes was assessed at 72h of activation, Normally cleaved parthenotes were cultured for an additional 8 days to evaluate their ability to develop to blastocyst and hatching stages. The fetal bovine serum (FBS) were added at Day 4 or 5 with concentrations of 2.5, 5 or 10%. The blastocyst rates were ranged within $39.1{\sim}70%$ in each treatment. However hatching rate was dramatically decreased in non-addition group. In this experiment, embryo viability in female reproductive tract may be estimated before embryo transfer with in vitro culture adding FBS by hatching ability.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.345-353
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• 1997

Antioxidants and antioxidants with somatic cell co-culture, bovine oviduct epithelial cells(BOEC) and buffalo rat liver cells(BRLC), were studied as a mean of increasing the development and intracellular glutathione(GSH) concnetrations of bovine embryos derived from in vitro matured(IVM) and in vitro fertilized(IVF) oocytes. Cell numbers and intracellular GSH concentrations of blastocysts were also counted. The developmental rate beyond morula stages in CRlaa containing taurine(2.5mM), superoxide dismutase(SOD, 600U) and catalase(250U) were 1%, 75.0%, 64.8% and 62.3%, respectively. The developmental rate in antioxidant groups was significantly higher than in control(P<0.05). The intracellular GSH concentrations of blastocysts cultured in 0, 2.5mM taurine, 600U SOD and 250U catalase were 33.8pM, 39.3pM, 42.3pM and 54.8pM, respectively. This result indicated that the developmental rates and intracellular GSH concentrations of catalase group was significantly higher than any other groups(P<0.05). The developmental capacity in CRlaa plus various antioxidants co-cultured with BOEC were 55.3%(control), 74.1%(2.5mM taurine), 66.7%(600U SOD) and 70.7%(250U catalase) and in CRlaa plus various antioxidants co-cultured with BRLC in control, 2.5mM taurine, 600U SOD and 250U catalase were 63.8%, 75.5%, 71.0% and 73.5%, respectveily, the intracellular GSH concentrations of blastocyst embryos co-cultured with BOEC and BRLC in CRlaa with 0.25mM taurine, 600U SOD and 250U catalase were 73.4pM and 64.4pM, 79.9pM and 67.5pM, 82.3pM and 71.7pM, and 83.0pM and 80.0pM, respectively. Cell numbers of blastocysts were not difference in all experimental groups. These studies indicate that andtioxidants and antioxidant with somatic cell co-culture can increase the proportion of embryo that developed into morula and blastocysts, and the intracellular GSH concentrations of blastocyst embryos.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.191-197
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• 2016

Historically, Korea old cattle had been consisted with various lines of coat color brindle, black and white-brown breeds or more. The two rare lines of black and white coat color are maintained for animal resources and preserved critically. The present study was carried out to evaluate potential usage of cysteamine supplementation during in vitro matration (IVM) and in vitro culture/production of embryo (IVP) by transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicle aspiration (Ovum Pick-Up: OPU) for the establishment of cryo-banking system. Immature slaughterhouse-derived cumulus-oocyte complexes (SL-COCs) were matured in IVM medium supplemented with 0, 0.1, 0.3 or 0.9 mM cysteamine, and then cultured in mSOF-BAS for 8 days after in vitro fertilization. The treatment of 0.1 mM cysteamine on SL-COCs showed higher rate of blastocyst, so OPU-derived COCs from rare breeds were matured in TCM media supplemented with or without 0.1 mM cysteamine, FSH and 5% FBS. The embryos were evaluated their developmental stages on day 8. During IVM, cysteamine treatment significantly increased the embryo production rate of slaughterhouse-derived COCs (19.6% vs. 30.5%). The presence of cysteamine during IVM of OPU-derived COCs from rare Korean cattle breeds (albino white and black line) also increased embryo production rates than those from SL-COCs (27.4% vs. 41.9% and 36.4%). With these results, cysteamine treatment during IVM is one of key factors IVP of blastocysts to establish banking system of endangered rare Koarean cattle with OPU derived transferable blastocysts.