title: Relationships between oxygen consumption rate, viability, and subsequent development of in vivo-derived porcine embryos.
abstract: Oxygen consumption rate of in vivo-derived porcine embryos was measured, and its value as an objective method for the assessment of embryo quality was evaluated. Embryos were surgically collected 5 or 6 days after artificial insemination (AI), and oxygen consumption rate of embryos was measured using an embryo respirometer. The average oxygen consumption rate (F × 10(14)/mol s(-1)) of the embryos that developed to the compacted morula stage on Day 5 (Day 0 = the day of artificial insemination) was 0.58 ± 0.03 (mean ± standard error of the mean). The Day-6 embryos had consumption rates of 0.56 ± 0.13, 0.87 ± 0.06, and 1.13 ± 0.07 at the early blastocyst, blastocyst, and expanded blastocyst stages, respectively, showing a gradual increase as the embryos developed. Just after collection, the average oxygen consumption rates of embryos that hatched and of those that did not hatch after culture were 0.60 ± 0.04 and 0.50 ± 0.04 for Day 5 (P = 0.08) and 1.05 ± 0.09 and 0.77 ± 0.05 for Day 6 (P < 0.05), respectively. The value and probability of discrimination by measuring the oxygen consumption rates of embryos to predict their hatching ability after culture were 0.56 and 63.6% for Day-5 embryos and 0.91 and 68.4% for Day-6 blastocysts, respectively. When Day-5 embryos were classified based on the oxygen consumption rate and then transferred non-surgically to recipient sows, three of the seven sows, to which embryos having a high oxygen consumption rate (≥ 0.59) were transferred, became pregnant and farrowed a total of 20 piglets. However, none of the four sows, to which embryos having low oxygen consumption rate (< 0.59) were transferred, became pregnant. These results suggest that the viability of in vivo-derived porcine embryos and subsequent development can be estimated by measuring the oxygen consumption rate.
authors.affiliation: Kanagawa Prefectural Livestock Industry Technology Center, Ebina, Kanagawa, Japan. Electronic address: sakagami.semi@pref.kanagawa.jp.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakagami
authors.affiliation: Kanagawa Prefectural Livestock Industry Technology Center, Ebina, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishida
authors.affiliation: Kanagawa Prefectural Livestock Industry Technology Center, Ebina, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for the Functional Peptides, Higashine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hoshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Diseases, National Institute of Animal Health, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Diseases, National Institute of Animal Health, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000662:veterinary; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000502:physiology*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D013552:Swine / Q000196:embryology*
keywords: Embryo; Non-surgical embryo transfer; Oxygen consumption rate; Pig