Scriptaid Upregulates Expression of Development-Related Genes, Inhibits Apoptosis, and Improves the Development of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Mini-Pig Embryos

The present study was undertaken to investigate the mechanisms by which Scriptaid treatment improves the developmental competence of somatic cell nuclear transfer ( SCNT) mini-pig embryos in vitro. We found that treatment with 500 nmol/L Scriptaid for 15 hours significantly improved the development of mini-pig SCNT embryos. Compared with the control group, the blastocyst rate was higher ( 18.3% vs. 10.7%; p < 0.05). The acetylation level on H3K14 of the Scriptaid-treated group was higher compared with the control group in SCNT embryos at two-cell, four-cell, and blastocyst stages ( p < 0.05). After Scriptaid treatment, histone deacetylase gene HDAC5 expression level was significantly decreased in four-cell embryos and blastocysts, while the expression levels of the embryos' development-related genes AKT, Oct4, and apoptosis inhibited gene PGC-1 alpha were significantly increased in blastocysts ( p < 0.05). The number of apoptotic cells per blastocyst in the Scriptaid-treated group was lower compared with the control group ( p < 0.05). These results indicate that Scriptaid repressed HDCA5 gene expression, increased the acetylation level of H3K14, upregulated the expression of AKT, Oct4, and PGC-1 alpha genes, improved embryos' development, and reduced apoptosis, which favors development of the SCNT mini-pig embryos to blastocysts.