{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T12:11:10Z","timestamp":1783512670405,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,15]],"date-time":"2022-01-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642204800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of science and innovation, Spain","award":["AGL2017-88329-R"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AGL2017-88329-R"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002809","name":"Generalitat de Catalunya","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2017-SGR-1229"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017-SGR-1229"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"La marat\u00f3 de TV3","award":["214\/857-202039"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["214\/857-202039"]}]},{"name":"European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie grant agreement No 801342","award":["Tecniospring INDUSTRY; TECSPR-19-1-0003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Tecniospring INDUSTRY; TECSPR-19-1-0003"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Telomere length has attracted much interest as a topic of study in human reproduction; furthermore, the link between sperm telomere length and fertility outcomes has been investigated in other species. This biomarker, however, has not been much explored in other animals, such as pigs, and whether it is related to sperm quality and fertility outcomes remains unknown. The present work aimed to determine the absolute value of telomere length in pig sperm, as well as its relationship to sperm quality parameters and embryo development. Telomere length was determined through quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (qFISH) in 23 pig sperm samples and data were correlated to quality parameters (motility, morphology, and viability) and in vitro fertilization outcomes. We found that the mean telomere length in pig sperm was 22.1 \u00b1 3.6 kb, which is longer than that previously described in humans. Whilst telomere length was not observed to be correlated to sperm quality variables (p &gt; 0.05), a significant correlation between telomere length and the percentage of morulae 6 days after in vitro fertilization was observed (rs = 0.559; 95% C.I. = (\u22120.007 to 0.854); p = 0.047). Interestingly, this correlation was not found when percentages of early blastocysts\/blastocysts (rs = 0.410; 95% C.I. = (\u22120.200 to 0.791); p = 0.164) and of hatching\/hatched blastocysts (rs = 0.356; 95% C.I. = (\u2212 0.260 to 0.766); p = 0.233) were considered. Through the separation of the samples into two groups by the median value, statistically significant differences between samples with shorter telomeres than the median and samples with longer telomeres than the median were found regarding development to morula (11.5 \u00b1 3.6 vs. 21.8 \u00b1 6.9, respectively) and to early blastocyst\/blastocysts (7.6 \u00b1 1.4 vs. 17.9 \u00b1 12.2, respectively) (p &lt; 0.05). In the light of these results, sperm telomere length may be a useful biomarker for embryo development in pigs, as sperm with longer telomeres lead to higher rates of morulae and blastocysts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani12020204","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,16]],"date-time":"2022-01-16T20:44:00Z","timestamp":1642365840000},"page":"204","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Telomere Length in Pig Sperm Is Related to In Vitro Embryo Development Outcomes"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9101-2044","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jordi","family":"Ribas-Maynou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Biotechnology of Animal and Human Reproduction (TechnoSperm), Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"},{"name":"Unit of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5810-211X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yentel","family":"Mateo-Otero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biotechnology of Animal and Human Reproduction (TechnoSperm), Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"},{"name":"Unit of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marina","family":"Sanchez-Quijada","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biotechnology of Animal and Human Reproduction (TechnoSperm), Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"},{"name":"Unit of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9341-1164","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sandra","family":"Recuero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biotechnology of Animal and Human Reproduction (TechnoSperm), Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"},{"name":"Unit of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5655-5003","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ariadna","family":"Delgado-Berm\u00fadez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biotechnology of Animal and Human Reproduction (TechnoSperm), Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"},{"name":"Unit of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0685-7534","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marc","family":"Llavanera","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biotechnology of Animal and Human Reproduction (TechnoSperm), Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"},{"name":"Unit of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2209-340X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marc","family":"Yeste","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biotechnology of Animal and Human Reproduction (TechnoSperm), Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"},{"name":"Unit of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1053\/j.seminhematol.2013.03.030","article-title":"Telomere dynamics in mice and humans","volume":"50","author":"Calado","year":"2013","journal-title":"Semin. 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