Increasing histone acetylation of cloned embryos, but not donor cells, by sodium butyrate improves their in vitro development in pigs.

Abstract Previous studies have demonstrated that increased histone acetylation in donor cells or cloned embryos, by applying a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) such as trichostatin A (TSA), significantly enhances their developmental competence. However, its effect may vary with the type of HDACi and the target species, with some research showing nonsignificant or detrimental effects of TSA on in vitro and in vivo development of embryos. In this study, we show that sodium salt of butyric acid, a short-chain fatty acid produced naturally in the body by bacterial degradation of dietary fibers in the colon and rectum, increases histone acetylation in pig fibroblast and embryos at a concentration of 1.0 and 5.0 mM, respectively. However, treatment of donor cells with NaBu did not affect the rate of blastocyst formation or embryo quality in terms of histone acetylation and total nuclei per blastocyst (p > 0.05). On the contrary, treatment of cloned pig embryos with NaBu for 4 h significantly enhanced (p < ...