Reproductive fluids, used for the in vitro production of pig embryos, result in healthy offspring and avoid aberrant placental expression of PEG3 and LUM.

Abstract

Background: In vitro embryo production (IVP) and embryo transfer (ET) are two very common assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in human and cattle. However, in pig, the combination of either procedures, or even their use separately, is still considered suboptimal due to the low efficiency of IVP plus the difficulty of performing ET in the long and contorted uterus of the sow. In addition, the potential impact of these two ART on the health of the offspring is unknown. We investigated here if the use of a modified IVP system, with natural reproductive fluids (RF) as supplements to the culture media, combined with a minimally invasive surgery to perform ET, affects the output of the own IVP system as well as the reproductive performance of the mother and placental molecular traits.Results: The blastocyst rates obtained by both in vitro systems, conventional (C-IVP) and modified (RF-IVP), were similar. Pregnancy and farrowing rates were also similar. However, when compared to in vivo control (artificial insemination, AI), litter sizes of both IVP groups were lower, while placental efficiency was higher in AI than in RF-IVP. Gene expression studies revealed aberrant expression levels for PEG3 and LUM in placental tissue for C-IVP group when compared to AI, but not for RF-IVP group.Conclusions: The use of reproductive fluids as additives for the culture media in pig IVP does not improve reproductive performance of recipient mothers but could mitigate the impact of artificial procedures in the offspring.

Electrically-driven handling of gametes and embryos: taking a step towards the future of ARTs

“…22 Until now, no protocol was proposed for horses due to the lack of success in equine IVF, 23 but equine ICSI is possible. 22 Introduction of proteins present in biofluids collected from the pig reproductive tract in swine embryo IVC 24,25 and extracellular vesicles isolated from the bovine follicular and oviductal fluids in bovine IVC 26 resulted in a higher percentage of blastocysts 24,26 or avoidance of genetic aberrations. 25 Thus, decreased rates of mammalian IVP can be related to the absence of the maternal genital tract and its functionality.…”

“…22 Introduction of proteins present in biofluids collected from the pig reproductive tract in swine embryo IVC 24,25 and extracellular vesicles isolated from the bovine follicular and oviductal fluids in bovine IVC 26 resulted in a higher percentage of blastocysts 24,26 or avoidance of genetic aberrations. 25 Thus, decreased rates of mammalian IVP can be related to the absence of the maternal genital tract and its functionality. Moreover, mammalian embryos communicate with each other and their surroundings when cultured in groups in vitro.…”

Evolution and impact of socially transferred materials

“…Studies on such approaches have mostly focused on single functional molecules. For example, the agricultural industry benefits from understanding which molecules affect seminal fluid in in vitro fertilization [161] and sperm cryopreservation [162,163], which could be equally beneficial in conservation [164] or human medicine. In addition to improving the biological materials themselves, the composition of artificial substitutes such as infant formula can be altered [165].…”