Effect of Caffeine and Scriptaid on Sheep Nuclear Transfer Embryo Development

The effects of caffeine and scriptaid(histone deacetylase inhibitors,HDACi) on the blastocyst formation rate and blastocyst cell numbers in sheep somatic cell nuclear transferred(SCNT) embryos derived from cumulus cell were examined.Results showed that the blastocyst cell numbers were significantly increased by addition 2.5 mmol/L or 5 mmol/L caffeine after fusion.The blastocyst rate of SCNT embryos was the highest(24.31%)when 0.2 μmol/L scriptaid was added to the embryo culture medium,which was significantly higher than that of control group and 0.8μmol/L scriptaid addition group(P0.05).Interestingly,the blastocyst cell number was the highest in 0.2 μmol/L scriptaid addition group too.In conclusion,the blastocyst cell number can be improved significantly by addition caffine though the rate of blastocyst of cloned embryos was not increased significantly;the blastocyst developmental rate of SCNT embryo can be improved notably by addition scriptaid.