Production of Diabetic Offspring Using Cryopreserved Epididymal Sperm by In Vitro Fertilization and Intrafallopian Insemination Techniques in Transgenic Pigs

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a useful technique for creating pig strains that model human diseases. However, production of numerous cloned disease model pigs by SCNT for large-scale experiments is impractical due to its complexity and inefficiency. In the present study, we aimed to establish an efficient procedure for proliferating the diabetes model pig carrying the mutant human hepatocyte nuclear factor-1α gene. A founder diabetes transgenic cloned pig was generated by SCNT and treated with insulin to allow for normal growth to maturity, at which point epididymal sperm could be collected for cryopreservation. In vitro fertilization and intrafallopian insemination using the cryopreserved epididymal sperm resulted in diabetes model transgenic offspring. These results suggest that artificial reproductive technology using cryopreserved epididymal sperm could be a practical option for proliferation of genetically modified disease model pigs.