28 TREATMENT WITH SUBEROYLANILIDE HYDOXAMIC ACID OR SODIUM BUTYRATE ON PORCINE SOMATIC CELL NUCLEAR TRANSFER EMBRYOS DERIVED FROM KIDNEY CELLS OF HUMAN HEME OXYGENASE-1 TRANSGENIC PIG

Abstract

Because somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is influenced by many factors concerning a series of various steps, the cloning efficiency is low in so many species and it seems to be more serious in production of transgenic (TG) animals. Reprogramming of donor nucleus is one of the important factors that affects the developmental competence of SCNT embryos, and several epigenetic remodelling drugs have been used to improve the cloning efficiency. In this study, we examined the effect of suberoylanilide hydoxamic acid (SAHA) or sodium butyrate (NaBu) treatment on the development of porcine SCNT embryos derived from kidney cells of TG pig. Fully confluent porcine kidney cells expressing the human heme oxigenase-1 gene were used for nuclear donor. For SCNT, matured oocytes with 1st polar body were enucleated, electrically fused, and activated 1 h after fusion (Song et al. 2009 Mol. Reprod. Dev. 76, 611–619). Then, SCNT embryos were incubated in postactivation medium [PA; porcine zygote medium-5 (PZM-5) supplemented with 0.5% dimethyl sulfoxide] for 4 h (control), PA with 0.4 μg mL^–1 demecolcine for 4 h (Dc), PA with 0.5 μM SAHA for 9 h (SAHA), or PA with 1 mM NaBu for 9 h (NaBu). After postactivation treatment, SCNT embryos were cultured in fresh PZM-5 for 7 days. The embryos were examined for cleavage and blastocyst formation on Days 2 and 7, respectively (the day of SCNT was designated Day 0). Total cell number of blastocysts was examined by counting the number of nuclei stained with Hoechst 33342 under ultraviolet light. Complementary DNA synthesised with total RNA extracted from blastocysts were used for qRT-PCR to determine HDAC2, HDAC6, and GAPDH gene expression. Data were analysed by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's multiple comparison test using GraphPad Prism version 5.01 (Graphpad Software, San Diego, CA, USA). The cleavage rates (77.0–82.9%) of treated embryos were not different from that of control embryos (79.0%). Blastocyst formation was slightly increased in Dc- (36/132, 27.3%), SAHA- (34/125, 28.6%), and NaBu- (36/133, 27.3%) treated embryos than in control embryos (32/128; 25.0%), but the difference was not significant. Total cell numbers (45.2–47.5) of treated embryos were not different from that of control embryos (51.8). Expression of HDAC2 was higher in SAHA-treated embryos than in control and Dc-treated embryos (P < 0.05), but it was not different from that of NaBu-treated embryos. The relative expression of HDAC6 transcript was increased in SAHA- and NaBu-treated embryos, but there was no significant difference among all groups. Although SAHA or NaBu did not improve the pre-implantational development of porcine SCNT embryos derived from kidney cells of TG pig as assessed in this study, additional studies are needed to determine the effect of SAHA or NaBu on gene expression of pig TG embryos and developmental competency following embryo transfer according to the origin of donor cells.

This study was supported by IPET (#311011-05-2-SB010), MOTIE (#10033839-2012-21) and the TS Corporation.