Production Technique of a Piglet from the Blastocyst Produced by a Modified in Vitro System

News source: National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Japan
For future information, see K. Kikuchi, Onishi, N. Kashiwazaki, M., Iwamoto, J., Nogushi, H. Kaneko, T. Akita and T. Nagai, 2002. Successful piglet production after transfer of blastocysts produced by a modified in vitro system. Biol. Reprod 66: 177-185., 2002-06-01

Ovum Collection Is Labor Intensive

A mature ovum or fertilized ovum is usually used in the production of transformants and clones. However, because these are collected from the organism, this procedure has a high labor cost. Although examples of success have been reported, the efficiency is low.

Before the embryo is transferred to the sow, its viability and developmental potency, or the success or failure of gene introduction into the embryo, must be evaluated.

External cultivation of pig embryos not yet complete. There are no viable offspring, even if the blastocyst is transplanted after cultivating it for 6 days. However, piglets are born when eggs which have matured and been fertilized in vitro are cultivated extracorporeally at the 2 day, 2 _ 4 cell stage, after which embryo transfer is carried out.

Live Piglets from Blastocytes

The new technique produces live piglets from blastocysts produced by a modified in vitro system. The method of external cultivation for the extracorporeal production of embryos was improved, and a new technique which produces piglets by the transplantation of blastocysts was established. In this way, the production of clones and transformants using ova in vitro has been made more efficient.

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