Background: Porcine embryonic development is widely utilized in the medical industry. However, the blastocyst development rate in vitro is lower compared to in vivo . To address this issue, various supplements are employed. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play the role of communicators that carry many bioactive cargoes. Additionally, the contents of EVs can vary on the estrous cycle. Methods: We compared the effects of adding EVs derived from porcine uterine fluid (UF), categorized as non-EV (G1), EVs in estrus (G2) and EVs in diestrus (G3). After in vitro culture (IVC) was performed in three different groups, cleavage rate and blastocyst development rate were examined. In addition, glutathione (GSH) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were measured 2 days after activation to assess oxidative stress. Results: Using NTA and cryo-TEM, we confirmed the presence of EVs with sizes ranging from 30 nm to 200 nm, that the particles were suitable for analysis for analysis. In IVC data, the highest cleavage rate was observed in G2, which was significantly different from G1 but not significantly different from the next highest, G3. Similarly, the highest blastocyst development rate was observed in G2, which was significantly different from G1 but not significantly different from the next highest, G3. Conclusions: These results indicate that estrus derived EVs contain biofactors beneficial for early blastocyst development, including GSH which protects the blastocyst from oxidative stress. Additionally, although diestrus-derived EVs are expected to have some effect on blastocyst development, it appeared to be less effective than estrus-derived EVs.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanovesicles that carry bioactive cargoes of proteins, lipids, mRNAs, and miRNAs between living cells. Their role in cellular communication has gained the attention of several research reports globally in the last decade. EVs are critically involved in sperm functions, oocyte functions, fertilization, embryonic development, and pregnancy. The review summarizes the state-of-theart of EVs research in the diagnostic and therapeutic (theranostic) potentials of the EVs during the pregnancy that might provide a solution for gestational disturbances such as implantation failure, maternal health problems, gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia. EVs can be found in all biological fluids of the fetus and the mother and would provide a non-invasive and excellent tool for diagnostic purposes. Moreover, we provide the current efforts in manufacturing and designing targeted therapeutics using synthetic and semi-synthetic nanovesicles mimicking the natural EVs for efficient drug delivery during pregnancy.

Direct injection of genome editing tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 system into developing embryos has been widely used to generate genetically engineered pigs. The approach allows us to produce pigs carrying targeted modifications at high efficiency without having to apply somatic cell nuclear transfer. However, the targeted modifications during embryogenesis often result in mosaicism, which causes issues in phenotyping founder animals and establishing a group of pigs carrying intended modifications. This study was aimed to establish a genomic PCR and sequencing system of a single blastomere in the four-cell embryos to detect potential mosaicism. We performed genomic PCR in four individual blastomeres from four-cell embryos. We successfully amplified target genomic region from single blastomeres of 4-cell stage embryo by PCR. Sanger sequencing of the PCR amplicons obtained from the blastomeres suggested that PCR-based genotyping of single blastomere was a feasible method to determine mutation type generated by genome editing technology such as CRISPR/Cas9 in early stage embryos. In conclusion, we successfully genotyped single blastomeres in a single 4-cell stage embryo to detect potential mosaicism in porcine embryos. Our approach offers a simple platform that can be used to screen the prevalence of mosaicism from designed CRISPR/Cas9 systems.