The coculture of in vitro produced porcine embryos and oviductal epithelial cells improves blastocyst formation and modify embryo quality.

LORENZO, MARÍA SOLEDAD; TEPLITZ, GABRIELA MAIA; LUCHETTI, CAROLINA GRISELDA; CRUZANS, PAULA ROMINA; BERTONAZZI, A.; MARCELO LOMBARDO, DANIEL

THERIOGENOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2024

0093-691X

The efficiency of in vitro embryo production in mammals is influenced by variablesassociated with culture conditions during maturation, fertilization, and embryonicdevelopment. The embryos obtained often exhibit low quality due to suboptimal in vitroculture conditions compared to the in vivo environment. Co-culturing gametes andembryos with somatic cells has been developed to enhance in vitro culture conditions.This study aimed to assess the impact of coculturing in vitro-produced porcineembryos with porcine oviductal epithelial cells (POEC) on embryo development andquality. Firstly, a pure culture of POEC suitable for coculture systems was established.The epithelial origin of the cells was confirmed by the expression of E-cadherin andcytokeratin. The expression pattern of hormone receptors aligned with the diestrousoviduct, and POEC also secreted oviductal glycoprotein type 1 (OVGP-1). Secondly,POEC from passage 1 (POEC-1) were used to coculture with in vitro-produced porcineembryos. A successful coculture system was established without the addition of fetalbovine serum as a supplement. Coculturing POEC-1 in monolayers with in vitroproducedporcine embryos during the initial two days of culture enhanced thepercentage of blastocysts and their hatching. Although the coculture did not alter thenumber of cells in the blastocysts or apoptosis assessed by TUNEL, it significantlyreduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in cleaved porcine embryos. This studyrepresents the first report evaluating the quality of porcine embryos produced by IVF incoculture systems and assessing ROS levels in cleaved porcine embryos obtained byIVF.