Laparoscopic Embryo Transfer in Swine: An Effective Alternative to Traditional Open Surgery

While embryo transfer (ET) has not yet been widely adopted in the commercial swine industry, it is an essential tool in biomedical research, including the creation of gene-edited pigs. Traditionally, ET in pigs is performed by open surgery (laparotomy), an effective but invasive and time-consuming method associated with risks such as infection and herniation. To overcome these limitations, we developed a minimally invasive laparoscopic embryo transfer (LapET) method enabling ET into the oviduct using a sheep insemination device (Aspic, IMV Technologies, France). Seventeen gilts were synchronised with 17.6 mg altrenogest daily for 16 days, 10 mg dinoprost on D15, 1250 IU eCG on D16 and 1000 IU hCG on D19, followed by LapET on D21. Each gilt received an average of 160 embryos, transferred 24-48 h post-somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Under general anaesthesia, gilts were placed on a surgical table in a 30° incline Trendelenburg position. Three trocars were inserted to serve as ports for the laparoscope, a grasper and the Aspic pipette. The grasper served to expose the ovaries to confirm ovulation and to position the oviduct for embryo deposition. Following ET, the oviduct was released, instruments were removed and incisions were closed with surgical glue. Pregnancy was confirmed by ultrasonography, with 12 of 17 gilts (70.6%) diagnosed as pregnant, a success rate comparable to our recent laparotomy-based SCNT ETs into the oviduct (71.4%; 10 of 14). These results demonstrate that LapET is a viable, fast, minimally invasive and effective alternative to traditional open surgery ET in swine.