Chlorogenic acid and insulin–transferrin–selenium supplementation during in vitro maturation enhances the developmental competence of interspecies chimera blastocysts following cell injection

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, we aimed to test whether embryonic development of blastocysts following injection of mouse induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be improved by the supplementation of antioxidants during in vitro maturation. For this, we evaluated the effects of chlorogenic acid (CGA) and insulin–transferrin–selenium (ITS) supplementation either alone or in combination during oocyte in vitro maturation on the quality of porcine blastocysts and the embryonic development after injection of mouse iPS cells. Our results demonstrate that, prior to injection of mouse iPS cells, CGA or ITS supplementation either alone or in combination had no effects on the rates of oocyte maturation, oocyte DNA fragmentation, fertilization, and blastocyst formation. However, the combination of CGA and ITS significantly increased the total cell number in blastocysts compared with the control group (P < 0.05). When mouse iPS cells were injected into porcine blastocysts, CGA supplementation either alone or in combination with ITS had a beneficial effect on the development of interspecies chimera blastocysts. In conclusion, our results indicate that supplementation of maturation medium with a combination of CGA and ITS enhances the ability of porcine oocytes to develop interspecies chimera blastocysts following iPS cell injection.