Phytohemagglutinin improves efficiency of electrofusing mammary gland epithelial cells into oocytes in goats

Abstract The objective was to investigate the effect of phytohemagglutinin (PHA) on the fusion of mammary gland epithelial (MGE) cells into enucleated oocytes in goats. The toxicity of PHA was evaluated by testing its effect on the development of parthenogenetic caprine oocytes. The effective dose and duration of PHA treatment (100 μg/mL, 20 min incubation) was selected and used to compare fusion efficiency and embryo development following nuclear transfer. Two electrofusion protocols, chamber fusion (CF) and pressurized microelectrode fusion (pMEF), were also compared, when couplets were treated with and without PHA (100 μg/mL, 20 min). Fusion rate of couplets increased from 52.8 to 74.0% for the CF protocol ( P