Long-term effects of culture of preimplantation mouse embryos on behavior

Abstract

Many procedures used in assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to treat human infertility entail culture of preimplantation embryos. Moreover, there is an increasing trend to culture embryos for longer periods of time before uterine transfer to identify the ''best'' embryos for transfer and to minimize multiple pregnancies. Embryo culture, however, can perturb embryo metabolism and gene expression, and the long-term consequences of culture are unknown. We have explored the behavioral consequences of embryo culture by using a 129S6͞SvEvTac͞C57BL͞6J F 1 mouse model and find that adults derived from cultured embryos exhibit specific behavioral alterations in the elevated zero maze and Morris water maze tasks.

Embryo stability and vulnerability in an always changing world

“…Studies on rats and mice confirm the importance of maternal diet on physiology and even behavior of offspring (70,71). One mechanism that might account for the relationship between maternal diet and adult disease is that maternal nutrition status might induce an epigenetic change, as by DNA methylation or some aspect of chromatin structure.…”

Effect of sperm entry on blastocyst development after in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection — mouse model

“…A study that assessed the risk of nuclear spindle damage following ICSI suggests that this technique might interfere with regular chromosome segregation at the second meiotic division of the oocytes [27]. It is possible that ICSI affects an important event(s) that occurs in the narrow time-window between fertilization and pronucleus formation, thus affecting the long-term cascade of gene expression and embryonic development [12,18,25,32]. Therefore, it is important to follow an early embryo during development and evaluate events that could affect its quality as a result of assisted fertilization.…”

A potential use of embryonic stem cell medium for the in vitro culture of preimplantation embryos

“…Model animal studies show that culture of preimplantation embryos up to the blastocyst stage in a simple, defined medium causes significant changes in gene expression and DNA methylation patterns when compared to development in vivo [78][79][80][81][82]. While the physiologic impact of these epigenetic alterations is still unknown, mice that are derived from in vitro cultured embryos exhibit several behavioral abnormalities [83,84]. Thus, culture in a simple medium may cause subtle yet significant health problems.…”