Acetate treatment after zygotic genome activation enhances developmental competence of porcine IVF embryos.

In pigs, ZGA occurs around the 4-cell stage, when embryos move from the oviduct to the uterus. This overlap suggests that embryonic transcription begins as the embryo enters a new local environment. Despite this transition, many porcine in vitro production (IVP) systems provide metabolic supplements from the beginning of culture without considering the post-ZGA period separately. Acetate is a short-chain fatty acid found in the reproductive tract and can be converted into acetyl-CoA, thereby linking metabolism with epigenetic regulation. We therefore examined whether acetate supplementation after the presumed major ZGA period could improve porcine embryo development. Embryos were cultured with acetate after ZGA and assessed for blastocyst development, mitochondrial membrane potential, reactive oxygen species, glutathione, histone acetylation, and expression of survival- and adhesion-related genes. Acetate increased blastocyst formation and was accompanied by higher mitochondrial membrane potential, lower ROS-associated fluorescence, and increased glutathione levels. The treated embryos also showed stronger H3K9ac and H3K27ac signals and increased ACSS2 mRNA expression, together with changes in genes related to chromatin regulation, cell survival, and blastocyst integrity. These results show that acetate supplementation during the post-ZGA period improves porcine embryo development under the present IVP conditions and supports its use as a potential metabolic modulator during this developmental window.