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RepSox improves viability and regulates gene expression in rhesus monkey-pig interspecies cloned embryos
Hai-Ying Zhu1,2, Long Jin1,2, Qing Guo1,2
1Department of Animal Science, Agricultural College, Yanbian University, Yanji, Jilin, 133002, China.
Objective:
To investigate the effect of the small molecule, RepSox, on the expression of developmentally important genes and the pre-implantation development of rhesus monkey-pig interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) embryos.
Results:
Rhesus monkey cells expressing the monomeric red fluorescent protein 1 which have a normal (42) chromosome complement, were used as donor cells to generate iSCNT embryos. RepSox increased the expression levels of the pluripotency-related genes, Oct4 and Nanog (p < 0.05), but not of Sox2 compared with untreated embryos at the 2-4-cell stage. Expression of the anti-apoptotic gene, Bcl2, and the pro-apoptotic gene Bax was also affected at the 2-4-cell stage. RepSox treatment also increased the immunostaining intensity of Oct4 at the blastocyst stage (p < 0.05). Although the blastocyst developmental rate was higher in the group treated with 25 µM RepSox for 24 h than in the untreated control group (2.4 vs. 1.2%, p > 0.05), this was not significant.
Conclusion:
RepSox can improve the developmental potential of rhesus monkey-pig iSCNT embryos by regulating the expression of pluripotency-related genes.
