The effect of nutrition and environment on the preimplantation embryo

Eckert, Judith; Fleming, Tom P.

doi:10.1576/toag.13.1.43.27640

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(110 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Such a combination of circumstances provides an opportunity for the embryo to optimise its future developmental program according to environmental conditions, a form of plasticity consistent with the predictive adaptive responses concept in DOHaD (Gluckman and Hanson 2004). It also identifies a vulnerability for the embryo in that the entirety of subsequent conceptus lineages will be subject to this plasticity (Eckert and Fleming 2011). To understand why periconceptional maternal undernutrition has such a profound effect on adult health requires knowledge of the sequence of events from the time of maternal dietary intervention, whether and how the embryo may perceive dietary quality and how the embryo may express plasticity and change its pattern of development as a consequence (Fig.…”

Section: Emb-lpd Adult Disease: the Link To Preimplantation Environmentmentioning

confidence: 80%

Do little embryos make big decisions? How maternal dietary protein restriction can permanently change an embryo’s potential, affecting adult health

Fleming

Watkins

Sun

et al. 2015

Reprod. Fertil. Dev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Periconceptional environment may influence embryo development, ultimately affecting adult health. Here, we review the rodent model of maternal low-protein diet specifically during the preimplantation period (Emb-LPD) with normal nutrition during subsequent gestation and postnatally. This model, studied mainly in the mouse, leads to cardiovascular, metabolic and behavioural disease in adult offspring, with females more susceptible. We evaluate the sequence of events from diet administration that may lead to adult disease. Emb-LPD changes maternal serum and/or uterine fluid metabolite composition, notably with reduced insulin and branched-chain amino acids. This is sensed by blastocysts through reduced mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 signalling. Embryos respond by permanently changing the pattern of development of their extra-embryonic lineages, trophectoderm and primitive endoderm, to enhance maternal nutrient retrieval during subsequent gestation. These compensatory changes include stimulation in proliferation, endocytosis and cellular motility, and epigenetic mechanisms underlying them are being identified. Collectively, these responses act to protect fetal growth and likely contribute to offspring competitive fitness. However, the resulting growth adversely affects long-term health because perinatal weight positively correlates with adult disease risk. We argue that periconception environmental responses reflect developmental plasticity and 'decisions' made by embryos to optimise their own development, but with lasting consequences.

show abstract

Section: Emb-lpd Adult Disease: the Link To Preimplantation Environmentmentioning

confidence: 80%

Do little embryos make big decisions? How maternal dietary protein restriction can permanently change an embryo’s potential, affecting adult health

Fleming

Watkins

Sun

et al. 2015

Reprod. Fertil. Dev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Metabolic sensors trigger this regulation, thus allowing the cell to meet demands and react to stressed conditions. We speculate that the high levels of spare capacity observed throughout may contribute to the metabolic and developmental plasticity that oocytes and embryos show during the periconceptual stage of development that is highly responsive to environmental conditions 62 . Environmental challenges to the embryo may present in the form of maternal diet or in vitro culture conditions – conditions under which metabolic activity is altered 34,63 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Application of extracellular flux analysis for determining mitochondrial function in mammalian oocytes and early embryos

Muller

Lewis

Adeniyi

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mitochondria provide the major source of ATP for mammalian oocyte maturation and early embryo development. Oxygen Consumption Rate (OCR) is an established measure of mitochondrial function. OCR by mammalian oocytes and embryos has generally been restricted to overall uptake and detailed understanding of the components of OCR dedicated to specific molecular events remains lacking. Here, extracellular flux analysis (EFA) was applied to small groups of bovine, equine, mouse and human oocytes and bovine early embryos to measure OCR and its components. Using EFA, we report the changes in mitochondrial activity during the processes of oocyte maturation, fertilisation, and pre-implantation development to blastocyst stage in response to physiological demands in mammalian embryos. Crucially, we describe the real time partitioning of overall OCR to spare capacity, proton leak, non-mitochondrial and coupled respiration – showing that while activity changes over the course of development in response to physiological demand, the overall efficiency is unchanged. EFA is shown to be able to measure mitochondrial function in small groups of mammalian oocytes and embryos in a manner which is robust, rapid and easy to use. EFA is non-invasive and allows real-time determination of the impact of compounds on OCR, facilitating an assessment of the components of mitochondrial activity. This provides proof-of-concept for EFA as an accessible system with which to study mammalian oocyte and embryo metabolism.

show abstract

“…Metabolic sensors are used to set off this regulation, thus allowing the cell to meet demands and react to stressed conditions. We speculate that the high levels of spare capacity observed throughout may contribute to the metabolic and developmental plasticity that oocytes and embryos show during the periconceptual stage of development that is highly responsive to environmental conditions (Eckert & Fleming 2011). Environmental challenges to the embryo may present in the form of maternal diet or in vitro culture conditionsconditions under which metabolic activity has been shown to be altered (Sugimura et al 2012;Leary et al 2015).…”

Section: Markers Of Mitochondrial Activity Across Pre-implantation Dementioning

confidence: 99%

Application of extracellular flux analysis for determining mitochondrial function in mammalian oocytes and early embryos

Muller

Lewis

Adeniyi

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Mitochondria provide the major source of ATP for mammalian oocyte maturation and early embryo development. Oxygen Consumption Rate (OCR) is an established measure of mitochondrial function. OCR by mammalian oocytes and embryos has generally been restricted to overall uptake and detailed understanding of the components of OCR dedicated to specific molecular events remains lacking.Results: Here, extracellular flux analysis (EFA) was applied to small groups of bovine, equine, mouse and human oocytes and bovine early embryos to measure OCR. Using EFA, we report the changes in mitochondrial activity during the processes of oocyte maturation, fertilization, and pre-implantation development to blastocyst stage in response to physiological demands in mammalian embryos. Crucially, we describe the real time partitioning of overall OCR to spare capacity, proton leak, non-mitochondrial and coupled respirationshowing that while there are alterations in activity over the course of development to respond to physiological demand, the overall efficiency is unchanged.Conclusion: EFA is shown to be able to measure mitochondrial function in small groups of mammalian oocytes and embryos in a manner which is robust, rapid and easy to use. EFA is non-invasive and allows real-time determination of the impact of compounds on OCR, facilitating an assessment of the parameters of mitochondrial activity. This provides proof-ofconcept for EFA as an accessible system with which to study oocyte and embryo metabolism.

show abstract

The effect of nutrition and environment on the preimplantation embryo

Cited by 8 publications

References 43 publications

Do little embryos make big decisions? How maternal dietary protein restriction can permanently change an embryo’s potential, affecting adult health

Do little embryos make big decisions? How maternal dietary protein restriction can permanently change an embryo’s potential, affecting adult health

Application of extracellular flux analysis for determining mitochondrial function in mammalian oocytes and early embryos

Application of extracellular flux analysis for determining mitochondrial function in mammalian oocytes and early embryos

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About