Table 3.

Effect of the TSA-mediated epigenomic modulation of MSCs on the cytological quality of cloned pig embryos assessed by TUNEL assay.

TSA-mediated epigenetic transformation of MSCs	Number of analyzed blastocysts	Mean number of DAPI-tagged cell nuclei per blastocyst ± SD	Mean number of TUNEL-positive (apoptotic) cell nuclei per blastocyst ± SD	Mean apoptotic index (DCI) per blastocyst ± SD (%)
+	31	47.97 ± 27.43A	1.61 ± 3.38	4.95 ± 13.98
−	26	27.77 ± 15.82B	1.58 ± 2.69	7.13 ± 12.44

TSA: trichostatin A; MSC: mesenchymal stem cell; TUNEL: terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase- (TdT-) mediated dUTP (2′-deoxyuridine-5′-triphosphate) nick-end labelling; DAPI: 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole; SD: standard deviation; DCI: dead cell index.

Values with different large superscript letters (A and B) within the same column denote very highly significant differences (P < 0.005; ANOVA followed by Tukey's HSD post hoc test). Number of replicates = 6.