126 CRYOPRESERVATION OF PORCINE EMBRYOS DERIVED FROM IVM OOCYTES

Abstract

We have reported that a combination of delipation (removal of cytoplasmic lipid droplets from blastomeres) and vitrification by means of the minimum-volume cooling (MVC) method successfully cryopreserves porcine in vitro-matured/fertilized (IVM/IVF) embryos, and that normal piglets are produced from these embryos (Hiruma et al. 2006 Reprod. Fertil. Dev. 18, 157). We have also reported that IVM-derived embryos that undergo noninvasive delipation (i.e. micromanipulation is not required) and vitrification develop into blastocysts at a high rate (Esaki et al. 2004 Biol. Reprod. 71, 432–437). In this study, we examined whether fetuses can be produced from the IVM-derived embryos that have been delipated noninvasively and vitrified. Cumulus–oocyte complexes that had been collected from slaughterhouse ovaries were in vitro-matured in NCSU23 medium. The IVM oocytes were activated to produce parthenogenetic embryos. We used the embryos at the 4- to 8-cell (67 h after activation) and morula (98 h) stages in the following experiments. Embryos were treated with 4% trypsin (in PBS) at 38°C for 1 to 4 min to expand the zona pellucida. Next, the embryos were centrifuged (12 000g, 38°C, 23 min) in TL-HEPES-PVP containing 7.5 µg mL^-1 cytochalasin B to polarize cytoplasmic lipid droplets within the perivitelline space. These embryos were cultured for 1 to 3 h and then vitrified. The post-thaw viability of the embryos was assessed based on their ability to develop into blastocysts and fetuses (21 to 23 days old). The embryos were vitrified using the MVC method with 15% ethylene glycol, 15% DMSO, and 0.5 M sucrose as cryoprotective agents. PZM-5 was used for culturing the embryos. In embryo transfer experiments, after thawing, the embryos were cultured for 36 or 72 h until they developed into morulae or 4- to 8-cell blastocysts, respectively; they were then treated with 0.5% pronase to remove the zona pellucida, and transferred to the uterine horns of estrus-synchronized recipients 6 days after onset of estrus. The proportion of vitrified embryos that developed into blastocysts and the mean cell number of the blastocysts were similar to those of non-vitrified control embryos, irrespective of the embryonic stage (4- to 8-cell stage: 42.1%, 22/51, 63.0 ± 7.8 vs. 64.7%, 22/34, 74.2 ± 7.1, respectively; morula stage: 77.6%, 38/49, 69.6 ± 7.2 vs. 83.3%, 45/54, 66.2 ± 5.9, respectively). Seventeen embryos that had been vitrified at the 4- to 8-cell stage gave rise to 3 fetuses after transfer into one recipient (17.6%). Fifty-three embryos that had been vitrified at the morula stage were transferred into 3 recipients. All recipients became pregnant and produced a total of 17 fetuses (32.1%). These results suggest that porcine IVM-derived embryos that have been cryopreserved by the combination of noninvasive delipation and vitrification by the MVC method are highly viable.