ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Reproduction - Theriogenology
Exposure of in vitro maturing pig oocytes to exogenous interleukin-6 is associated with transcriptomic differences in the resulting blastocysts, with enrichment of developmental signaling pathways
Provisionally accepted
Manuela Garcia-Canovas1
Adelina Lopez-Jara1
Inmaculada Parrilla1
Alejandro González Plaza1
Heriberto Rodriguez-Martinez2
Maria Antonia Gil1
Cristina Cuello3*
EMILIO A MARTINEZ1- 1Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
- 2Universitetssjukhuset i Linkoping, Linköping, Sweden
- 3University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
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Introduction: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has recently emerged as a promising supplement for in vitro maturation (IVM), enhancing pig blastocyst development and reducing apoptosis following in vitro fertilization (IVF). This study assessed whether IL-6 supplementation during IVM is associated with differences in gene expression in day-7 in vitro-produced blastocysts. Methods: Oocytes from prepubertal gilts were matured in IVM medium with (IL-6 IVM group) or without (control group) 100 ng/mL IL-6 and subsequently subjected to IVF. The resulting presumptive zygotes were cultured in vitro for seven days. Six pools of seven viable blastocysts per group were flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80ºC until microarray analysis. The embryos were analyzed using the GeneChip® Porcine Genome Array (Affymetrix). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by ANOVA using a significance threshold of P< 0.01 and a fold change > |1.5|. Results: Compared to the control, the IL-6 IVM group showed 91 upregulated and 47 downregulated DEGs. KEGG analysis of upregulated genes revealed enrichment in 13 pathways including genes involved in key processes related to lipid metabolism, embryo development, cell proliferation and immune system. Only two pathways were enriched among downregulated genes, comprising genes not previously associated with essential roles in embryonic development. Discussion: Blastocysts derived from oocytes matured in vitro with 100 ng/mL of IL-6 exhibited differences in activity in several immune-related and lipid metabolism pathways through the overexpression of specific genes associated with cell proliferation, embryo development and apoptosis reduction. These findings provide insights consistent with a role of IL-6 during porcine IVM and its association with oocyte developmental competence.
Keywords: : IL-6, cytokine, In vitro embryo production, Transcriptome, Swine
Received: 30 Sep 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Garcia-Canovas, Lopez-Jara, Parrilla, González Plaza, Rodriguez-Martinez, Gil, Cuello and MARTINEZ. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Cristina Cuello, ccuello@um.es
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