Developmental competence of chimeric porcine embryos through the aggregation of parthenogenetic embryos and somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos

The efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT) in pigs is low and requires enhancement. We identified the most efficient method for zona pellucida (ZP) removal and blastomere aggregation in pigs and investigated whether the aggregation of NT and parthenogenetic activation (PA) of blastomeres could reduce embryonic apoptosis and improve the quality of NT-derived embryos by investigating. Embryonic developmental competence after ZP removal using acid Tyrode's solution or protease (pronase E). The embryonic developmental potential of NT-derived blastomeres was also investigated using well-of-the-well or phytohemagglutinin-L. We analyzed apoptosis in aggregate-derived blastocysts. The aggregation rate of protease-treated embryos was lower than that of Tyrode’s solution-treated embryos (69.2% vs. 88.3%). No significant difference was observed between phytohemagglutinin-L and well-of-the-well (35.7%–38.5%). However, 2P1N showed a higher number of blastocysts compared to 3N (73.8% vs. 24.3%) and an increased blastocyst diameter compared to the control and 1P2N (274 μm vs. 230–234 μm). In blastomeres aggregated using phytohemagglutinin-L, the apoptotic cell ratio was significantly higher in 1P2N and 3N than in 3P (5.91%–6.46% vs. 2.94%, respectively). Our results indicate that aggregation of one NT embryo with two PA embryos improved the rate of blastocysts with increased blastocyst diameter.