Effects of Donor Cells Treated with Egg Extracts on the Development Competence of Cloned Embryos

Japanese Balck cattle fetal fibroblasts (JBCFF) were induced with Xenopus leavis egg extracts and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) was carried out with the reprogrammed JBCFF as donor cells in order to investigate their effects on SCNT efficiency.Three samples of egg extracts were acquired from different Xenopus laevis.The protein contents and kinds in extracts were evaluated with BCA Protein Quantification Kit and SDS-PAGE.Concentration of Digitonin to permeabilize JBCFF was optimized and assessed with PI staining.Reprogrammed cells treated with egg extract were used as donor in SCNT.Additionally the reconstructed embryos were activated with ionomycin+6-DMAP and A23187+6-DMAP to compare their effects on the development competence.The protein contents of extracts samples were 56.2255,64.6570 and 71.2158 μg/mL,respectively,the each extract had the same composition about 40-55 and 70-100 ku.The optimal concentration of Digitonin was 7 μg/mL and the permeabilization rate was 55.44%.After extracts treatment and continuous culture for 6-7 d,JBCFF formed well-defined colony structures.No significant composition difference was found in rates of fusion (92.83% vs 96.04%),cleavage (89.64% vs 89.78%) and blastocyst formation (24.06% vs 23.12%) of cloned embryos when the colony cells and JBCFF without extracts treatment were used as donor cells (P>0.05).Similarly,the two activation methods had no significant effect on the developmental competence of cloned embryos (cleavage rate 92.16% vs 92.28%,blastocyst rate 23.21% vs 24.18%).Conclusively,Xenopus leavis,egg extracts could induce JBCFF reprogramming to a low differentiated state.However donor cells with reprogramming partially could not improve the development of cloned embryos and its mechanism requires further research.