Characterization and Multilineage Differentiation of Domestic and Black-Footed Cat Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells from Abdominal and Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue.

Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolated from bone marrow or adipose tissue is emerging as a promising tool for cell replacement therapy and regenerative medicine in domestic and endangered animal species. Defining the differentiation capability of adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (AMSCs) collected from different depot sites of adipose tissue will be essential for developing strategies for cell replacement therapy. In the present study, we compared the biological characteristics of domestic cat AMSCs isolated from visceral fat of the abdominal cavity (AB) with AMSCs from subcutaneous (SQ) tissue, and the functional capability of domestic and black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) AMSCs to differentiate into other cell types. Our results showed that both domestic and black-footed cat adipose-derived stromal vascular fractions contained AMSCs. Both domestic cat AB- and SQ-AMSCs showed important clonogenic ability and the minimal MSC immunophenotype as defined by the International Society for Cellular Therapy in humans. However, domestic cat AB-AMSCs had higher percentages of cells positive for MSCs-associated cluster of differentiation (CD) markers CD90(+) and CD105(+) (92% and 80%, respectively) than those of SQ-AMSCs (77% and 58%, respectively). Although these results may suggest that AB-AMSCs may be more multipotent than SQ-AMSCs, both types of cells showed similar expression of pluripotent genes Oct-4 and Klf4, except for higher expression of Nanog than in AB-AMSCs, and equivalent in vitro multilineage differentiation. Under appropriate stimuli, the black-footed cat and both domestic cat AB- and SQ-AMSCs differentiated not only toward mesoderm cell lineages but also toward ectoderm cell lineage, such as neuron cell-like cells. Black-footed cat AMSCs had more capability to differentiate toward chondrocytes. These results suggest that the defined AMSC population (regardless of site of collection) could potentially be employed as a therapeutic agent for both domestic and endangered diseased or injured felids.

Trichostatin A modified histone covalent pattern and enhanced expression of pluripotent genes in interspecies black-footed cat cloned embryos but did not improve in vitro and in vivo viability.

Abstract The black-footed cat (BFC; Felis nigripes), one of the smallest wild cats, is listed as threatened. Interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (Is-SCNT) offers the possibility of preserving endangered species. Development to term of interspecies BFC (Is-BFC) cloned embryos has not been obtained, possibly due to abnormal epigenetic reprogramming. Treatment of intraspecies cloned embryos with TSA improves nuclear reprogramming and in vitro and in vivo viability. In this study, we evaluated (1) whether covalent histone modifications differ between Is-BFC cloned embryos and their IVF counterparts, (2) the optimal TSA concentration and exposure times to modify the covalent histone patterns, (3) if TSA enhances in vitro and in vivo developmental competence of cloned embryos, and (4) expression of pluripotent genes. Results indicated that the covalent histone modifications of Is-BFC cloned embryos aberrantly differ from their DSH-IVF counterpart embryos. Aberrant epigenetic events may be due partially to the inability of the DSH cytoplasm to modify the restrictive epigenetic marks of the BFC nuclei after somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Incomplete remodeling of the histone H3K9me2 in Is-BFC cloned embryos possibly contributes to abnormal expression of pluripotent genes and low embryonic development. Treatment of Is-BFC cloned embryos with TSA remodeled the covalent pattern in H3K9ac and H3K9me2, resembling epigenetic patterns in IVF counterpart embryos, and resulted in activation of some pluripotent genes. However, genomic reprogramming of Is-BFC cloned blastocysts did not follow the same reprogramming pattern observed in DSH-IVF embryos, and in vitro and in vivo developmental competence was not enhanced.

Generation of domestic transgenic cloned kittens using lentivirus vectors.

The efficient use of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), in conjunction with genetic modification of donor cells provides a general means to add or inactivate genes in mammals. This strategy has substantially improved the efficacy of producing genetically identical animals carrying mutant genes corresponding to specific human disorders. Lentiviral (LV) vectors have been shown to be well suited for introducing transgenes into cells to be used as donor nuclei for SCNT. In the present study, we established an LV vector-based transgene delivery approach for producing live transgenic domestic cats by SCNT. We have demonstrated that cat fetal fibroblasts can be transduced with EGFP-encoding LV vectors bearing various promoters including the human cytomegalovirus immediate early (hCMV-IE) promoter, the human translation elongation factor 1alpha (hEF-1alpha) promoter and the human ubiquitin C (hUbC) promoter. Among the promoters tested, embryos reconstructed with donor cells transduced with a LV-vector bearing the hUbC promoter displayed sustained transgene expression at the blastocyst stage while embryos reconstructed with LV vector-transduced cells containing hCMV-IE-EGFP or hEF-1alpha-EGFP cassettes did not. After transfer of 291 transgenic cloned embryos into the oviducts of eight recipient domestic cats (mean =36.5 +/- 10.1), three (37.5%) were diagnosed to be pregnant, and a total of six embryos (2.1%) implanted. One live male offspring was delivered by Cesarean section on day 64 of gestation, and two kittens were born dead after premature delivery on day 55. In summary, we report the birth of transgenic cloned kittens produced by LV vector-mediated transduction of donor cells and confirm that cloned kittens express the EGFP reporter transgene in all body tissues.

Cloning endangered felids using heterospecific donor oocytes and interspecies embryo transfer.

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) offers the possibility of preserving endangered species. It is one of the few technologies that avoids the loss of genetic variation and provides the prospect of species continuance, rather than extinction. Nonetheless, there has been a debate over the use of SCNT for preserving endangered species because of abnormal nuclear reprogramming, low efficiency and the involvement of extra mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of a different species in live offspring produced by interspecies SCNT. Despite these limitations, live endangered cloned animals have been produced. In the present paper, we describe recent research on the production of cloned embryos derived by fusion of wild felid fibroblast cells with heterospecific domestic cat cytoplasts and their viability after transfer into domestic cat recipients. In addition, we discuss epigenetic events that take place in donor cells and felid cloned embryos and mtDNA inheritance in wild felid clones and their offspring.

Nuclear transfer of sand cat cells into enucleated domestic cat oocytes is affected by cryopreservation of donor cells.

In the present study, we used the sand cat (Felis margarita) as a somatic cell donor to evaluate whether cryopreservation of donor cells alters viability and epigenetic events in donor cells and affects in vitro and in vivo developmental competence of derived embryos. In Experiment 1, flow cytometry analysis revealed that the percentage of necrosis and apoptosis in cells analyzed immediately after freezing/thawing (61 vs. 8.1%, respectively) was higher than that observed in frozen/thawed cells cultured for 18 h (6.9 vs. 3.3%, respectively) or 5 days (38 vs. 2.6%; respectively). The relative acetylation level of H3K9 was lower in frozen/thawed cells (5.4%) compared to that found in cultured cells (60.1%). In Experiment 2, embryos reconstructed with frozen/thawed cells had a lower cleavage rate (85%; day 2) than did embryos reconstructed with cultured cells (95%), while development to the blastocyst stage (day 8) was not affected by cell treatment (17.0% with frozen/thawed cells vs. 16.5% with cultured cells). In Experiment 3, pregnancy rates were similar between both cell treatments (32% with frozen/thawed cells vs. 30% with cultured cells), but the number of embryos that were implanted, and the number of fetuses that developed to term was lower for embryos reconstructed with frozen/thawed cells (1.2 and 0.3%, respectively) than those reconstructed with cultured cells (2.6 and 1.8%, respectively), while the number of fetuses reabsorbed by day 30 was higher (75%) for embryos reconstructed with frozen/thawed cells than those reconstructed with cultured cells (31%). A total of 11 kittens from cultured cells and three kittens from frozen/thawed cells were born between days 60 to 64 of gestation. Most kittens died within a few days after birth, although one kitten did survive for 2 months. In Experiment 4, POU5F1 mRNA expression was detected in 25% of blastocysts derived from frozen/thawed cells, whereas 88 and 87% of blastocysts derived from cultured cells and by in vitro fertilization, respectively, expressed POU5F1. We have shown that cell cryopreservation increased the incidence of necrosis and apoptosis and altered epigenetic events in donor cells. Consequently, the number of embryos that cleaved, implanted, and developed to term-gestation and POU5F1 expression in derived blastocysts indirectly was affected.