The Interspecific Effect of Human and Porcine Adipose-derived Stem Cell Conditioned Medium for in vitro Culture of Parthenogenetically Activated Porcine Embryos

Adipose-derived stem cells (ASC) have been known to secrete immunomodulatory and regenerative factors that could influence the in vitro culture (IVC) environment for embryo development and exist in conditioned medium (CM) as well. However, the interaction between different species derived embryos and ASC-CM during IVC has never been investigated. In this study, we examined the interspecific effects of ASC-CM obtained from humans (HCM) and pigs (PCM) on IVC of porcine embryos generated by parthenogenetic activation. In vitro matured cumulus-oocyte complexes were electrically activated for parthenogenesis and subsequently divided into a control group cultured in porcine zygote medium-5 and treatment groups in which HCM and PCM were supplemented with various concentration. The embryo development competence of each group was evaluated including cleavage rate, blastocyst formation rate and total cell number of porcine parthenotes. As a result, the blastocyst formation rate of 2.5% PCM treated group and the control group was significantly higher than that of 2.5% HCM treated group (P<0.05) but there were no differences in the cleavage rate and total cell number of blastocyst among groups. Our study suggested that the application of ASC-CM for embryo IVC system could be more effective within the same species rather than interspecific treatment.