Modification of cell division by phorbol ester in preimplantation mouse embryos

2-cell mouse embryos were treated in vitro with a 2 h pulse of phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) at 32nd, 38th and 50th h after hCG, then chased in culture for up to 46 h. Embryos were fixed at various time intervals of chasing, then stained and inspected. Some embryos were carefully inspected with a video recording system, every 1.44s and the cell divisions (cytokinesis) as well as formation of large, single blastomeres, each from two smaller ones, were recorded. PMA pulse let to the suppression of cell divisions. The rate of the suppression was time dependent: with a delay of 0–1, 12 and 18 h between the PMA pulse and time of scheduled cell division about 99, 87 and 44% of 2-cell embryos remained at this stage of development, for at least 10 h, respectively, and 90, 58 and 12% of their blastomeres revealed binuclearity. Since we found that PMA-mediated formation of binuclearity was not the effect of cell fusions, it was assumed that the inhibition of cytokinesis preceded by karyokinesis was responsible for binuclearity. PMA effect on cell divisions was reversible. PMA-treated embryos revealed formation of large, single blastomeres, each from two smaller ones. If cell division appeared after PMA pulse, in about 52% of 3- to 6-cell embryos, the large blastomere formation was recorded in the course of the subsequent 38 h. Large blastomere formation was concluded to be the result of either cell fusion or reversion of incompleted cytokinesis brought about by PMA.