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Vertebrate reproductive science and technology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Porcine embryos produced after intracytoplasmic sperm injection using xenogeneic pig sperm from neonatal testis tissue grafted in mice

Ali Honaramooz A C , Xiang-Shun Cui B , Nam-Hyung Kim B and Ina Dobrinski A D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research, Department of Clinical Sciences, New Bolton Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Kennett Square, PA 19348, USA.

B Department of Animal Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea.

C Present address: Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B4, Canada.

D Corresponding author. Email: dobrinsk@vet.upenn.edu

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 20(7) 802-807 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD08093
Submitted: 4 May 2008  Accepted: 3 July 2008   Published: 1 August 2008

Abstract

Embryo development after homologous intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with sperm from testis tissue xenografts from pigs or any other farm animal species has not been evaluated critically. Here, we report development of porcine embryos in vitro following ICSI with sperm retrieved from xenografted neonatal pig testis. Small pieces of testis tissue from newborn piglets were grafted under the back skin of castrated immunodeficient mice (n = 4) and the xenografts were collected 8 months after grafting. Spermatozoa were recovered by mincing of the grafted tissue. For comparison, testicular, epididymal and ejaculated spermatozoa were also collected from mature boars. Oocytes injected with xenogeneic spermatozoa were either fixed to determine fertilisation processes (n = 89 in five replicates) or allowed to develop in vitro (n = 143 in four replicates). Xenogeneic porcine spermatozoa were fertilisation competent (24% v. 58%, 68%, 62% or 0% for xenogeneic v. control testicular, epididymal and ejaculated spermatozoa or no spermatozoa, respectively) and embryos developed to the blastocyst stage (8% v. 22%, 27%, 25% or 0%, respectively). These results demonstrate that porcine spermatozoa derived from immature testis tissue xenografted into mice are fertilisation competent, albeit at a lower rate than testicular, epididymal or ejaculated spermatozoa from control boars, and support embryo development after ICSI.


Acknowledgements

The authors thank Janet Turpin and Terry Jordan for animal care. This study was supported by National Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2003–35203–13486 (to I.D.) from the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service and by grant no. 2R01 RR17359–06 (to I.D.) from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The contents of this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NCRR or NIH. This study was also supported by a grant from the BioGreen 21 program, RDA, Republic of Korea (to N.H.K.).


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