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Gonzalez-Plaza A, Cambra JM, Garcia-Canovas M, Parrilla I, Gil MA, Martinez EA, Rodriguez-Martinez H, Martinez CA, Cuello C. Cryotop vitrification of large batches of pig embryos simultaneously provides excellent postwarming survival rates and minimal interference with gene expression. Theriogenology 2023; 206:1-10. [PMID: 37148716 DOI: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2023.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The most commonly used technique to vitrify pig embryos is the super open pulled straw (SOPS), where a maximum of 6 embryos can be vitrified simultaneously per device without compromising the minimum volume necessary for optimal preservation. Since optimal embryo transfer (ET) demands a transfer of 20-40 embryos per recipient, the customary use of SOPS complicates embryo warming and ET in field conditions. Such complications could be avoided when using the Cryotop® (OC) system, which has been proven to be an effective option for vitrifying at least 20 porcine embryos simultaneously. This study aimed to investigate the changes in the transcriptome of blastocysts caused by vitrification using both systems. In vivo-derived blastocysts were OC- (n = 60; 20 embryos/device) and SOPS- (n = 60; 4-6 embryos/device) vitrified and cultured for 24 h after warming. Nonvitrified blastocysts (n = 60) cultured for 24 h postcollection acted as controls. At the end of culture, 48 viable embryos from each group (6 pools of 8 embryos) were selected for microarray (GeneChip® Porcine Genome Array, P/N 900624, Affymetrix) analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The survival rate of embryos vitrified with the OC and SOPS systems (>97%) was similar to that of the control embryos (100%). Microarray analysis of each vitrification system compared to the control group showed 245 DEGs (89 downregulated and 156 upregulated) for the OC system and 210 (44 downregulated and 166 upregulated) for the SOPS system. Two pathways were enriched for the DEGs specifically altered in each vitrification system compared to the control (glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and carbon metabolism pathways for the OC system and amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism and lysosome pathways in the SOPS group). The OC group showed 31 downregulated and 24 upregulated genes and two enriched pathways (mineral absorption and amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism pathways) when compared to the SOPS group. In summary, vitrification with the OC system altered fewer genes related to apoptosis and activated genes related to cell proliferation. We conclude that vitrification with either the OC or SOPS system has a moderate to low effect on the transcriptome of in vivo-derived porcine blastocysts. Further investigation is needed to elucidate how the differences in the transcriptome of embryos vitrified with these systems affect their subsequent developmental ability after ET.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Gonzalez-Plaza
- Department of Medicine & Animal Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, International Excellence Campus for Higher Education & Research (CMN), University of Murcia. Institute for Biomedical Research of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), Murcia, Spain
| | - Josep M Cambra
- Department of Medicine & Animal Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, International Excellence Campus for Higher Education & Research (CMN), University of Murcia. Institute for Biomedical Research of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), Murcia, Spain
| | - Manuela Garcia-Canovas
- Department of Medicine & Animal Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, International Excellence Campus for Higher Education & Research (CMN), University of Murcia. Institute for Biomedical Research of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), Murcia, Spain
| | - Inmaculada Parrilla
- Department of Medicine & Animal Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, International Excellence Campus for Higher Education & Research (CMN), University of Murcia. Institute for Biomedical Research of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), Murcia, Spain
| | - Maria A Gil
- Department of Medicine & Animal Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, International Excellence Campus for Higher Education & Research (CMN), University of Murcia. Institute for Biomedical Research of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), Murcia, Spain
| | - Emilio A Martinez
- Department of Medicine & Animal Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, International Excellence Campus for Higher Education & Research (CMN), University of Murcia. Institute for Biomedical Research of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), Murcia, Spain
| | - Heriberto Rodriguez-Martinez
- Department of Biomedical & Clinical Sciences (BKV), BKH/Obstetrics & Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Cristina A Martinez
- Department of Animal Reproduction. National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA-CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
| | - Cristina Cuello
- Department of Medicine & Animal Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, International Excellence Campus for Higher Education & Research (CMN), University of Murcia. Institute for Biomedical Research of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), Murcia, Spain.
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Seo H, Kramer AC, McLendon BA, Cain JW, Burghardt RC, Wu G, Bazer FW, Johnson GA. Elongating porcine conceptuses can utilize Glutaminolysis as an Anaplerotic pathway to maintain the TCA cycle. Biol Reprod 2022; 107:823-833. [PMID: 35552608 DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioac097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
During the peri-implantation period of pregnancy, the trophectoderm of pig conceptuses utilize glucose via multiple biosynthetic pathways to support elongation and implantation, resulting in limited availability of pyruvate for metabolism via the TCA cycle. Therefore, we hypothesized that porcine trophectoderm cells replenish TCA cycle intermediates via a process known as anaplerosis, and that trophectoderm cells convert glutamine to α-ketoglutarate, a TCA cycle intermediate, through glutaminolysis. Results demonstrate: 1) that expression of glutaminase (GLS) increases in trophectoderm and glutamine synthetase (GLUL) increases in extra-embryonic endoderm of conceptuses, suggesting that extra-embryonic endoderm synthesizes glutamine, and trophectoderm converts glutamine into glutamate; and 2) that expression of glutamate dehydrogenase 1 (GLUD1) decreases and expression of aminotransferases including PSAT1 increase in trophectoderm, suggesting that glutaminolysis occurs in the trophectoderm through the GLS-aminotransferase pathway during the peri-implantation period. We then incubated porcine conceptuses with 13C-glutamine in the presence or absence of glucose in the culture media, and then monitored the movement of glutamine-derived carbons through metabolic intermediates within glutaminolysis and the TCA cycle. The accumulation of 13C-labeled carbons significantly increased in glutamate, α-ketoglutarate, succinate, malate, citrate, and aspartate in the absence of glucose in the media. Collectively, our results indicate that during the peri-implantation period of pregnancy, the proliferating and migrating trophectoderm cells of elongating porcine conceptuses utilize glutamine via glutaminolysis as an alternate carbon source to maintain TCA cycle flux.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heewon Seo
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, and Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
| | - Avery C Kramer
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, and Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
| | - Bryan A McLendon
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, and Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
| | - Joe W Cain
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, and Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
| | - Robert C Burghardt
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, and Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
| | - Guoyao Wu
- Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
| | - Fuller W Bazer
- Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
| | - Greg A Johnson
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, and Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
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Chen PR, Uh K, Redel BK, Reese ED, Prather RS, Lee K. Production of Pigs From Porcine Embryos Generated in vitro. FRONTIERS IN ANIMAL SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2022.826324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Generating porcine embryos in vitro is a critical process for creating genetically modified pigs as agricultural and biomedical models; however, these embryo technologies have been scarcely applied by the swine industry. Currently, the primary issue with in vitro-produced porcine embryos is low pregnancy rate after transfer and small litter size, which may be exasperated by micromanipulation procedures. Thus, in this review, we discuss improvements that have been made to the in vitro porcine embryo production system to increase the number of live piglets per pregnancy as well as abnormalities in the embryos and piglets that may arise from in vitro culture and manipulation techniques. Furthermore, we examine areas related to embryo production and transfer where improvements are warranted that will have direct applications for increasing pregnancy rate after transfer and the number of live born piglets per litter.
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Chen PR, Redel BK, Kerns KC, Spate LD, Prather RS. Challenges and Considerations during In Vitro Production of Porcine Embryos. Cells 2021; 10:cells10102770. [PMID: 34685749 PMCID: PMC8535139 DOI: 10.3390/cells10102770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/13/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Genetically modified pigs have become valuable tools for generating advances in animal agriculture and human medicine. Importantly, in vitro production and manipulation of embryos is an essential step in the process of creating porcine models. As the in vitro environment is still suboptimal, it is imperative to examine the porcine embryo culture system from several angles to identify methods for improvement. Understanding metabolic characteristics of porcine embryos and considering comparisons with other mammalian species is useful for optimizing culture media formulations. Furthermore, stressors arising from the environment and maternal or paternal factors must be taken into consideration to produce healthy embryos in vitro. In this review, we progress stepwise through in vitro oocyte maturation, fertilization, and embryo culture in pigs to assess the status of current culture systems and address points where improvements can be made.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula R. Chen
- Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
| | | | - Karl C. Kerns
- Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Lee D. Spate
- Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
- National Swine Resource and Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
| | - Randall S. Prather
- Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
- National Swine Resource and Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
- Correspondence:
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