scholarly journals Tight Junction Messenger RNA Expression Levels in Bovine Embryos are Dependent upon the Ability to Compact and In Vitro Culture Methods1

2003 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 1394-1402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Miller ◽  
Judith J. Eckert ◽  
Giovanna Lazzari ◽  
Veronique Duranthon-Richoux ◽  
Joe Sreenan ◽  
...  
2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 236 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Nowak-Imialek ◽  
C. Wrenzycki ◽  
D. Herrmann ◽  
I. Lagutina ◽  
A. Lucas-Hahn ◽  
...  

Epigenetic modifications of the genome, such as covalent modifications of histones, are crucial for transcriptional regulation during development. The N-terminal tails of the histones are subject to post-translational modifications, including acetylation, deacetylation and methylation. histone acetylation loosens chromatin packing and correlates with transcriptional activation. The enzymes Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) transfer acetyl moieties to the lysine residues of histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4. Histone acetylation is a reversible process which is catalyzed by the histone deacetylase (HDAC) and results in transcriptional repression. Histone methyltransferase (HMT) is responsible for the methylation of arginine in histones 3 and 4, playing an important role in transcriptional activation of genes. In contrast, the H3 Lys 9 methylation is associated with a transcriptionally repressive heterochromatin. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of different origins of embryos on the relative abundance of transcripts for the histone acetyltransferase 1 (HAT1), histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2), histone metyltransferases (SUV39H1 and G9A), and heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1). Messenger RNA expression profiles of these genes were investigated in bovine oocytes and pre-implantation embryos up to the blastocyt stage produced either in vitro by two different culture systems, i.e. SOF+BSA or TCM+SERUM, by somatic cloning using adult male and female fibroblasts, parthenogenetic activation, and androgenetic construction, or in vivo, employing semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Significant differences are described below. HAT1, SUV39H1, G9A, and HP1 mRNA transcripts decreased in enucleated oocytes, compared with immature oocytes. The relative abundance of HAT1 and SUV39H1 transcripts was significantly increased in NT-derived zygotes produced from adult female fibroblasts, compared to their in vitro fertilized and parthenogenetic counterparts. No differences were found in the relative abundances of gene transcripts at the 8-16-cell stage, except for parthenogenetic embryos in which SUV39H1 transcripts were significantly higher than in all other 8-16 cell groups. The relative abundance of SUV39H1, G9A, and HP1 transcripts were significantly higher in NT-derived blastocysts derived from adult male fibroblasts than in their in vivo-generated counterparts. HP1 and G9A transcript levels were significantly increased in NT-derived blastocysts derived from male fibroblasts compared to NT-derived embryos produced from female fibroblasts. The results show that the in vitro environment and the nuclear transfer protocol affect mRNA expression patterns of histone modification genes in pre-implantation bovine embryos.


2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. 2648-2657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitte Bau ◽  
Pia M. Gebhard ◽  
Jochen Haag ◽  
Thomas Knorr ◽  
Eckart Bartnik ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tairen Chen ◽  
Mengjing Wu ◽  
Yuting Dong ◽  
Bin Kong ◽  
Yufang Cai ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose: Whether FSH promotes follicle growth by inhibiting the Hippo signalling pathway.METHODS: Ovaries were cultured in vitro into a control group (no intervention), an FSH group (0.3 IU/mL FSH), and a VP group (10 µg/mL vetiporfin). HE staining and follicle counts were performed at each stage after 3 hours of in vitro culture. Immunohistochemistry was performed to study the expression levels of LATS2, YAP, PLATS2, and PYAP, and their expression levels in each group were also analysed by Western blot.The number of secondary follicles was significantly increased in the FSH group, the arrangement of granulosa cells was neater, the nuclear fixation was reduced, and the number of atretic follicles was decreased in the VP group. The number of secondary follicles was significantly increased, the number of atretic follicles was reduced, and granulosa cell nuclear consolidation was reduced in the VP+FSH group. Immunohistochemistry showed that LATS2 and YAP expression levels were significantly increased and PLATS2 and PYAP expression levels were relatively decreased in the FSH group, PYAP and PLATS2 expression levels were significantly increased and YAP expression was significantly decreased in the VP group, and YAP and LATS2 expression levels were significantly increased and PYAP and PLATS2 expression levels were significantly decreased in the VP+FSH group. By Western blot, LATS2 and YAP were elevated and PYAP and PLAT2 were decreased in the FSH group, LATS2 and YAP were decreased and PYAP and PLATS were significantly elevated in the VP group, and LATS2 and YAP were elevated and PYAP and PLATS2 were decreased in the VP+FSH group.CONCLUSION: FSH promotes follicle development by inhibiting the Hippo signalling pathway.


2018 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 79-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Laguna-Barraza ◽  
M.J. Sánchez-Calabuig ◽  
A. Gutiérrez-Adán ◽  
D. Rizos ◽  
S. Pérez-Cerezales

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
M. M. Souza ◽  
N. Z. Saraiva ◽  
C. S. Oliveira ◽  
T. A. D. Tetzner-Nanzeri ◽  
R. Vantini ◽  
...  

The use of fetal bovine serum (FBS) as protein supplementation in IVP of bovine embryos has presented difficulties because it can introduce a number of pathogenic components in culture systems, can be related to the birth of calf with abnormal growth and development, and precludes the establishment of the actual nutritional needs of the embryo, because it contains an unlimited variety of substances. This study evaluated the replacement of the FBS in the medium of in vitro culture (IVC) of bovine embryos, using the knockout serum replacer (KSR) as protein supplementation and culture medium conditioned with stem cells. Therefore, bovine oocytes from ovaries of slaughterhouse were selected and matured in vitro in TCM-199 medium supplemented with 10% FBS (Crypion), 1.0 μg mL-1 FSH (Pluset®, Calier, Barcelona, Spain), 50 μg mL-1 hCG (Profasi®, Serono, Geneva, Switzerland), 1.0 μg mL-1 estradiol (Sigma E-2758, Sigma Chemical, St. Louis, MO, USA), 0.2 mM sodium pyruvate, and 83.4 μg mL-1 amikacin for 24 h. After that, 1144 oocytes were fertilized in IVF-TALP medium containing 6 mg mL-1 of BSA. After 18 to 22 h, the zygotes were cultured in SOF + 5% FBS (group 2); SOF + 5% KSR (group 3); SOF (5% FBS) + 10% SOF (5% FBS) conditioned by stem cells (group 4); or SOF (5% KSR) + 10% SOF (5% KSR) conditioned by stem cells (group 5), in an atmosphere of 5% O2 at 38.5°C for 8 days. A control group outside the controlled atmosphere was added, supplemented with 5% FBS (group 1). The SOF medium supplemented with 5% FBS or KSR was conditioned by stem cells and added to SOF medium for the culture of embryo at a concentration of 10%. The rates of cleavage and production of blastocysts were assessed 48 hours and 7 days after IVF, respectively, and analyzed by chi-square test, with a significance level of 5% in the statistical program Minitab® (release 14.1, Minitab, State College, PA, USA). On the eighth day, the TUNEL test for determination of the percentage of apoptosis and the differential staining technique for determination of inner cell mass (ICM) and trophoblast (TF) were performed. The results were submitted to ANOVA, followed by comparing the means by Tukey’s test using the program GraphPad Prism (GraphPad, San Diego, CA, USA). The treatments did not differ in the production of embryos, being similar to the control group: G1 = 31.75% (74/233), G2 = 35.26% (79/224), G3 = 32.70% (74/226), G4 = 28.76% (63/219), and G5 = 26.85% (65/242). With regard to the assessment of embryonic quality, the treatments showed similar results to the control groups. No differences were observed among groups both in color and ICM/TF ratio (G1 = 0.60, G2 = 0.62, G3 =0.65, G4 = 0.60, and G5 = 0.60). Furthermore, the TUNEL showed no significant difference in the percentage of apoptosis among groups (G1 = 7.10%, G2 = 3.76%, G3 = 5.58%, G4 = 4.50%, and G5 = 4.11%). The data obtained so far indicate that it is possible to produce embryos in vitro by replacing the FBS in the culture, achieving results similar to those obtained with serum. Financial support: FAPESP 2007/58506-6.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
L. Baldoceda ◽  
C. Vigneault ◽  
P. Blondin ◽  
C. Robert

Mitochondria play an important role during early mammalian embryo development through their diverse cellular functions, in particular creating balance between production of ATP by electron transport chain and oxidative stress. Embryonic mitochondria are inherited maternally and independently of the nuclear genome. They show limited activity during the early developmental stages before embryonic genome activation. It has been shown that in vitro culture (IVC) has an adverse effect on mitochondrial function in embryos. So far several attempts have been performed to improve and rescue the impaired mitochondria. It has been shown that vitamin K2 (a membrane-bound electron carrier, similar to ubiquinone) was used to rescue mitochondrial dysfunction and resulted in more efficient ATP production in eukaryotic cells (Vos et al. 2012 Science 336, 1306–1310). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of supplementation of vitamin K2 on mitochondrial activity and blastocyst rate. Cumulus–oocytes complexes (n = 687) recovered from slaughtered animals, were matured and fertilized in vitro according to our standard procedures. After fertilization, zygotes were cultured in SOF media supplemented with 10 mg mL–1 BSA. At 96 h post-fertilization, vitamin K2 was added to the culture media (n = 448 oocytes). On Day 7, treatment embryos were compared with untreated controls (n = 239 oocytes). In vitro culture was carried out at 38.5°C under 5% CO2, 7% O2, and 88% N2. Differences among groups in blastocyst yield were analysed by ANOVA. Mitochondrial activity data was analysed by unpaired 2-tailed t-tests. Results show that the vitamin K2-treated group had a significantly (P < 0.05) higher blastocyst rate (+8.6%), expanded blastocyst rate (+7.8%), as well as better morphological quality compared with the control group. Furthermore, to evaluate mitochondria activity, pools of embryos of each treatment were labelled with a specific dye for active mitochondria (Mitotracker Red). A significantly higher intensity of Mitotracker Red (P < 0.05) was observed in the vitamin K2 treatment versus control group, as measured by fluorescent microscopy. In conclusion, for the first time, our data prove that supplementation of vitamin K2 during IVC of bovine embryos increases blastocyst rates and embryo quality. Future studies will focus on gene expression to identify targets implicated in impaired mitochondrial activity in in vitro bovine embryo production.


2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 267
Author(s):  
N. Y. Rho ◽  
F. A. Ashkar ◽  
T. Revay ◽  
P. Madan ◽  
W. A. King

Thyroid hormones (TH) play an important role in the physiology of vertebrates, ranging from the regulation of metabolic processes to cell proliferation, differentiation, and embryo development. We have previously shown a beneficial effect of supplementing TH in in vitro embryo production media. Recently, detection of TH receptors (TR) in oocytes and early stages of pre-implantation embryos indicated a possible regulatory role for TH in these stages (unpublished data). The objective of this study was to investigate the importance of TR expression in the pre-attachment bovine embryo in vitro. Bovine embryos, produced by standard in vitro embryo production procedures, were microinjected at the zygote stage with small interfering RNA (siRNA) specifically designed for knocking down either TR-α or TR-β. In addition, groups of zygotes were microinjected with scrambled siRNA (SI) or were not injected (NI), and these groups served as controls. Embryo developmental rates were assessed using light microscopy for blastocyst formation rates and expression of TR messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts at the blastocyst stage was assessed by quantitative PCR across all groups. Expression of TR mRNA was normalized against glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, H2a, and 18S as reference genes. There was a significant decrease in blastocyst formation rates in both embryo groups injected with either TR-α (P < 0.002) and TR-β (P < 0.001) siRNA compared with the NI and SI groups. Moreover, the TR-β knockdown group exhibited a lower developmental rate than the TR-α knockdown group, which indicates a stronger inhibitory role for TR-β. Quantification of the level of TR mRNA expression in four groups normalized with three different reference genes shows a consistent significant reduction in the levels of TR-α (P < 0.05) and TR-β (P < 0.02) mRNA transcripts compared with the NI and SI groups. However, TR-β expression was inhibited more than was TR-α expression. In conclusion, the results indicate that knocking down either TR-α or TR-β restrains embryo development. This suggests that TH play a vital role in the regulation of embryo development through their receptors during bovine early embryogenesis. The specific role of each of these receptors and their mechanism of action in mediating development needs to be further elucidated. Funding was provided by CRC, NSERC, and the EmbryoGENE network.


2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 232
Author(s):  
L. N. Moro ◽  
G. Vichera ◽  
D. Salamone

Transgenic animals have important applications in agriculture and human medicine; nevertheless the available techniques still remain inefficient and technically difficult. We have recently developed a novel method to transfect bovine embryos that consists of intracytoplasmic injection of exogenous DNA–liposome complexes (eDNA-LC) in IVF zygotes. This study was designed to evaluate the quality and viability of IVF bovine embryos, after intracytoplasmic injection of pCX-EGFP–liposome complexes (EGFP-LC) or pBCKIP2.8-liposome complexes (plasmid that codifies the human insulin gene, HI-LC). First, we evaluated embryo development and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) expression of IVF embryos injected with both plasmids separately. This treatment was analysed by Fisher's Exact test (P ≤ 0.05). Cleavage rates for EGFP-LC, HI-LC and IVF embryos injected with liposomes alone (IVF-L) and IVF control (IVF-C) were 62% (63/102), 67% (67/100), 66% (67/101) and 79% (98/124); blastocysts rates were 17% (17/102), 21% (21/100), 21% (21/101) and 23% (28/124), respectively. No statistical differences were seen among groups. The percentage of EGFP-positive embryos (EGFP+) after EGFP-LC injection was 42.9% after 3 days of culture and 41.8% at the blastocyst stage. In the second experiment, the blastocysts obtained, EGFP+ or EGFP-negative (EGFP–), were analysed by TUNEL assay at Day 6 (Bd6), 7 (Bd7) and 8 (Bd8) of in vitro culture, in order to evaluate the effect of the transgene and culture length, on DNA fragmentation. This treatment was analysed by the difference of proportions test (P ≤ 0.05) using statistical INFOSTAT software. All EGFP+ blastocysts showed TUNEL positive cells (T+). The percentage of T+ in Bd6, Bd7 and Bd8 were 91, 73.7 and 99.5%, respectively (P ≤ 0.05). EGFP– blastocysts showed lower fragmented nuclei (0, 44.6 and 85%, respectively; P ≤ 0.05). Groups IVF-L and IVF-C were also evaluated. In both groups, there was no evidence of DNA fragmentation in Bd6 and Bd7, but T+ were detected in Bd8 (66.4 and 85.8%, respectively; P ≤ 0.05). In the third experiment, bovine blastocysts obtained from the HI-LC group were individually transferred to recipient cows after 6 (n = 11), 7 (n = 5) and 8 (n = 5) days of culture post-IVF and HI-LC injection. The pregnancies obtained were from Bd6 [18.2% (2/11)] and Bd7 [40% (2/5)], although none of the recipients receiving Bd8 were diagnosed pregnant. Two pregnancies developed to term, one derived from Bd6 and the other from Bd7. Analysis by PCR determined that none of the born cows were transgenic. In summary, IVF bovine embryos could be easily transfected after the injection of eDNA-LC and the technique did not affect offspring viability. The results indicate that extended time in in vitro culture increases the percentage of fragmented nuclei in blastocysts. Moreover, this parameter increases in blastocysts with transgene expression compared with those without expression. Finally, more transfers are required in order to obtain the real efficiency of this new technique and to overcome the drawbacks generated by in vitro culture length and transgene expression.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document