Comparison of birth weight and umbilical and placental characteristics of cloned and artificial insemination-derived piglets

Abstract

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)-derived piglets have significantly higher stillbirth rate and postnatal mortality rate than artificial insemination (AI)-generated piglets. The question whether the low survival rate of SCNT piglets was related to birth weight, umbilical cord or placenta development was investigated. In this study, stillbirth rate, neonatal death rate, birth weight, umbilical cord status, placental parameters and placental gene expression patterns were compared between SCNT and AI piglets. Results showed that mortality rates at birth and during the neonatal stage of SCNT piglets were significantly higher than those of AI piglets. The incidence of abnormal umbilical cord in SCNT and SCNT-liveborn (SCNT-LB) piglets was significantly higher than in AI and AI-liveborn (AI-LB) piglets. Birth weight, placental weight, placental surface area and placental efficiency in SCNT and SCNT-LB piglets were significantly lower than those of AI and AI-LB piglets. Placental expression profiles of imprinting, angiopoiesis and nutrient transport-related genes were defective in SCNT-LB piglets compared with those in AI-LB piglets. Thus, the low survival rate of SCNT piglets may be associated with abnormal umbilical cord and placenta development. These characteristics may have resulted from aberrant expression of angiogenesis, nutrient transport, and imprinting-related genes in the placentas.

Keywords

cloned / pig / death / placenta / SCNT / umbilical cord

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by two grants received from the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province, China (2016B020233006 and 2016A020210074).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Zheng Ao, Chengfa Zhao, Yanmin Gan, Xiao Wu, Junsong Shi, Enqin Zheng, Dewu Liu, Gengyuan Cai, Zhenfang Wu, and Zicong Li declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose.

All applicable institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2018. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)