scholarly journals 58 HANDMADE CLONING IN TRANS-SPECIES NT: CULTURE MEDIUM HAS AN EFFECT ON THE ABILITY OF RECONSTRUCTED BOVINE-MURINE EMBRYOS TO DEVELOP BEYOND THE 8-CELL STAGE

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.-M. Nieminen ◽  
M. Aho ◽  
K. Kananen-Anttila ◽  
E. Reinikainen ◽  
M. Halmekytö

The objectives of studies of trans-species nuclear transfer (NT) include epigenetic reprogramming and stem cell technology. The present study evaluated the effect of culture media on the development of reconstructed bovine-murine embryos. Bovine NT served as a technical control. The NT embryos were produced with the hand made cloning (HMC) technique (Vajta G et al. 2003 Biol. Reprod. 68, 571–578), and to our knowledge, this is the first report on the application of HMC in trans-species NT. Abattoir-derived bovine oocytes were matured for 21 h and enucleated by hand as described (Vajta G et al. 2003). Bovine cytoplasts were fused with either bovine granulosa cells or murine fetal fibroblasts. The bovine NT embryos were cultured for 7 days in modified SOFaaci (Holm P et al. 1999 Theriogenology 52, 683–700) containing either 5% FBS (8 trials) or 4 mg mL−1 fatty acid free albumin (FAFBSA, 6 trials). Bovine-murine NT embryos were cultured for 4.5 days in SOFaaci + FAFBSA (5 trials), or for the first 12 h in SOFaaci + FAFBSA and until 4.5 days in KSOMaa (Biggers JD 1991 J. Reprod. Fertil. 91, 543) containing 1 mg mL−1 embryo-tested BSA (4 trials). The results are shown in Table 1. In bovine NT embryos, both cleavage (day 2) and day 7 blastocyst rates were significantly improved was SOFaaci + FAFBSA was used as culture medium. Culture medium did not affect the cleavage rate of bovine-murine NT embryos at 12–16 h after start of culture. The development of reconstructed bovine-murine embryos beyond the 8-cell stage was significantly improved when SOFaaci + FAFBSA was replaced with KSOMaa + BSA after 12 h culture. Fourteen of a total of 464 (3.0%) Day 4.5 bovine-murine reconstructed embryos reached early morula stage with signs of compaction. The study showed that the development of the reconstructed NT embryos was significantly affected by the culture medium. Contrary to earlier findings (Park SH et al. 2004 Mol. Reprod. Dev. 68, 25–34), the bovine-murine reconstructed embryos developed beyond 8-cell stage, even until early compaction. The gene expression of species-specific and development-related genes of the reconstructed embryos is under characterization. Table 1. Effect of culture medium on cleavage and development of reconstructed NTt embryos Professor Gabor Vajta is greatly acknowledged for his contribution in establishing the HMC technique in our laboratory.

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
L. D. Spate ◽  
K. A. Walker ◽  
C. E. McHughes ◽  
R. S. Prather

Embryo culture media typically contain undefined biologicals such as BSA. Our goal is to develop chemically defined culture media that are based on the biology and physiology of the embryo. To that end we evaluated the presence of message in embryos at various stages of development and determined that the message for the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) increased from the germinal vesicle and 4-cell stage to the blastocyst stage of porcine embryogenesis. Thus, this study was conducted to determine if the addition of low density lipoprotein (LDL) would enhance the development and quality of in vitro produced porcine embryos in an already chemically defined culture medium. Slaughterhouse ovaries were aspirated, cumulous–oocyte complexes (COC) identified, and the COC were matured for 42 h in M199 base medium supplemented with EGF, FSH, and LH. Metaphase II oocytes were then selected. Fertilization was then preformed in modified Tris buffered medium and cocultured with 0.25 � 106/mL frozen thawed porcine semen for 5 h. The presumptive zygotes were then transferred to either porcine zygote medium with 0.3% BSA or 0.1% PVA (PZM3, PZM4). After 28 h, cleaved embryos were then sorted into six treatment groups (1. PZM3, 2. PZM3 + 20 µg mL–1 LDL, 3. PZM4, 4. PZM4 + 10 µg mL–1 LDL, 5. PZM4 + 20 µg mL–1 LDL, 6. PZM4 + 50 µg mL–1 LDL). The embryos were cultured in 5%O2 5%CO2 90%N until day 7. The percentage of development to the blastocyst stage was determined and analyzed with the SAS Proc GENMOD Procedure (a–cP ≤ 0.05). The percentage blastocyst was 51.3 � 0.09a, 51.6 � 0.09a, 33.1 � 0.99c, 35.8 � 0.09c, 36.9 � 0.09c, and 41.3 � 0.06b, for treatments 1–6, respectively. Culture in PZM4 (without BSA) significantly reduced development. However, addition of 50 µg mL–1 of LDL to PZM4 improved development above PZM4 alone. We interpret these data to indicate that a high concentration of LDL in the PZM4 media did improve embryo development and that LDL could partially substitute for BSA. Differential staining was performed on the blastocysts, and preliminary results suggest that the ICM to trophectoderm ratio in the high LDL treatment group is closer to the ratio found in in vivo produced embryos. This project was supported by USDA CSREES NRI (2006-35203-17282) and Food for the 21st Century.


2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
H. T. Lee ◽  
J. M. Jang ◽  
S. H. Lee ◽  
M. K. Gupta

In vitro production of cloned porcine embryos by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has become routine in several laboratories but the efficiency and quality of the resultant blastocysts remains sub-optimal. Cloned porcine blastocysts show low cell number, high fragmentation rate, and apoptosis which results in lower pregnancy rates upon embryo transfer. Earlier we reported that supplementation of culture media with amino acids benefit pre-implantation embryo development of in vivo- as well as in vitro-fertilized porcine embryos (Koo et al. 1997 Theriogenology 48, 791–802). This study evaluated how exogenous amino acids could affect pre-implantation development and quality of cloned or parthenogenetic porcine embryos. The effects of commercially available amino acids, referred to as Eagle's non-essential amino acids (NEAA), added or not added (control) to NCSU23 medium containing fatty acid-free BSA were studied. Oocytes recovered from abattoir-derived prepubertal porcine ovaries were matured in vitro and parthenogenetically activated (PA) or nuclear-transferred with fetal fibroblasts (SCNT), as described earlier (Uhm et al. 2000 Mol. Reprod. Dev. 57, 331–337). At 168 h post-activation, blastocysts were harvested for assessment of embryo quality by TUNEL labeling, Hoechst 33342 staining, and gene expression analysis. Results showed that, in the PA group, the cleavage rate was not affected by the supplementation of NEAA. However, the blastocyst rate was significantly improved when NEAA was present in the medium compared to that of the control group (38.9 ± 0.3 vs. 27.5 ± 0.3%, respectively) throughout the culture period. The supplementation during the pre-compaction period alone gave better results than during the post-compaction period alone (59.5 ± 0.9 vs. 33.4 ± 0.3%, respectively). In the SCNT group, however, both cleavage (73.6 ± 0.2 vs. 64.2 ± 0.4%) and blastocyst rate (18.7 ± 0.2 vs. 13.8 ± 0.3%) were improved by NEAA supplementation. Furthermore, these blastocysts had higher hatching ability (30.0 ± 1.8 vs. 14.6 ± 4.9%) than those of control group (P < 0.05). Supplementation of NEAA also increased the mean nuclei number of PA-derived (76.1 ± 4.9 vs. 66.5 ± 3.3) as well as SCNT-derived (43.1 ± 2.6 vs. 31.8 ± 1.9) blastocysts and reduced the time during which blastocysts formed. TUNEL assay revealed that incidence of nuclear fragmentation and apotosis was reduced by NEAA. Real-time qRT-PCR for Bax and Bcl-XL transcripts revealed that the relative abundance of Bax was reduced while that of Bcl-XL was increased. These effects were more pronounced when NEAA was present during the pre-compaction period alone. Thus, our data suggest that NEAA improves the yield and quality of cloned porcine embryos by enhancing blastocyst expansion and positively modulating the total cell number and apoptosis. These data may have implications for understanding the nutritional needs of cloned porcine embryos produced in vitro and for optimizing the composition of culture media to support their development. This work was supported by the Research Project on the Production of Bio-Organs (No. 200503030201), Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Republic of Korea.


2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 316 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Gómez ◽  
R. Kutner ◽  
D. Ricks ◽  
C. E. Pope ◽  
C. Dumas ◽  
...  

The domestic cat is a useful biomedical model because several cat diseases are analogous to inherited human disorders. Transgenic embryos have been produced by microinjecting lentivirus vectors (LV) carrying specific genes into the perivitelline space of mature oocytes or zygotes of different mammalian species (Hofmann et al. 2003 EMBO Rep. 4, 1054). One drawback of this approach is that integration of the transgene may not occur in each blastomere, and that mosaic embryos are formed (Kubish et al. 2006 Reprod. Fertil. Dev. 18, 295). Donor nuclei derived from cells stably transduced with a LV may provide a more effective strategy for producing transgenic animals via nuclear transfer (NT). The purpose of the present study was to determine the uselfulness of LV to deliver transgene into cat fetal fibroblasts (CFF) and to produce transgenic domestic cat cloned embryos expressing enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP). CFF were transduced with LV carrying the eGFP transgene. The LV-construct contained either the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) or the human translation elongation factor 1 alpha (hEF1alpha) promoter to achieve ubiquitous expression of the eGFP transgene. CFF at passage 1–2 were transduced with either LV-CMV or LV-hEF1alpha for 24 h. Cells expressing eGFP were observed at 24 and 48 h after co-incubation with the LV. Stable transgene expression in transduced CFF was observed and only those CFF that fluoresced green by epifluorescence microscopy with a fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) filter were selected for NT. Cleavage rate and embryo development to blastocyst stage (Day 8), respectively, of embryos reconstructed with transduced CFF from LV-CMV (79%; 12%) and LV-hEF1alpha (77%; 29%) were not different from those of cloned embryos reconstructed with non-transduced CFF cells (81%; 19%). None of the LV-CMV-derived cloned embryos expressed detectable levels of eGFP, whereas 18% of the LV-hEF1alpha-cloned embryos expressed detectable eGFP. Fluorescence in cloned embryos reconstructed with LV-hEFP1alpha promoter was not observed during the first 24–36 h, but from Day 2, three embryos (9%) at the 2-cell stage started to express eGFP. Two embryos fluoresced brightly and retained fluorescence through development to the morula stage at Day 7. The third embryo had faint levels of fluorescence until Day 5. On day 5, three other embryos (9%) showed faint fluorescence that disappeared by Day 7. Blastocysts at Day 8 derived from either construct did not exhibit green fluorescence. To analyze lentiviral integration and the number of proviral integrants, real-time PCR quantification was performed on genomic DNA of single blastocysts. The number of provirus copies present in the genome of LV-CMV-(n = 4) and LV-hEF1alpha-(n = 6) derived cloned blastocysts ranged from 5 to 9 and 3 to 9 copies, respectively, whereas cloned blastocysts (n = 2) using non-transduced CFF were negative. In summary, we have established that transgenic domestic cat cloned embryos can be produced. All cloned blastocysts derived from either LV construct carried the provirus. However, eGFP expression was not observed in the blastocysts, possibly due to transgene silencing.


Zygote ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hruda Nanda Malik ◽  
Dinesh Kumar Singhal ◽  
Shrabani Saugandhika ◽  
Amit Dubey ◽  
Ayan Mukherjee ◽  
...  

SummaryThe present study was carried out to investigate the effects of different activation methods and culture media on the in vitro development of parthenogenetic goat blastocysts. Calcium (Ca2+) ionophore, ethanol or a combination of the two, used as activating reagents, and embryo development medium (EDM), modified Charles Rosenkrans (mCR2a) medium and research vitro cleave (RVCL) medium were used to evaluate the developmental competence of goat blastocysts. Quantitative expression of apoptosis, stress and developmental competence-related genes were analysed in different stages of embryos. In RVCL medium, the cleavage rate of Ca2+ ionophore-treated oocytes (79.61 ± 0.86) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than in ethanol (74.90 ± 1.51) or in the combination of both Ca2+ ionophore and ethanol. In mCR2a or EDM, hatched blastocyst production rate of Ca2+ ionophore-treated oocytes (8.33 ± 1.44) was significantly higher than in ethanol (6.46 ± 0.11) or in the combined treatment (6.70 ± 0.24). In ethanol, the cleavage, blastocyst and hatched blastocyst production rates in RVCL medium (74.90 ± 1.51, 18.30 ± 1.52 and 8.24 ± 0.15, respectively) were significantly higher than in EDM (67.81 ± 3.21, 14.59 ± 0.27 and 5.59 ± 0.42) or mCR2a medium (65.09 ± 1.57, 15.36 ± 0.52 and 6.46 ± 0.11). The expression of BAX, Oct-4 and GlUT1 transcripts increased gradually from 2-cell stage to blastocyst-stage embryos, whereas the transcript levels of Bcl-2 and MnSOD were significantly lower in blastocysts. In addition, different activation methods and culture media had little effect on the pattern of variation and relative abundance of the above genes in different stages of parthenogenetic activated goat embryos. In conclusion, Ca2+ ionophore as the activating agent, and RVCL as the culture medium are better than other tested options for development of parthenogenetic activated goat blastocysts.


2016 ◽  
pp. 823-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. DRÁBKOVÁ ◽  
L. ANDRLOVÁ ◽  
R. HAMPL ◽  
R. KANĎÁR

The aim of this study was to find some relationship between amino acid metabolism and the embryo morphokinetic parameters studied via time-lapse analysis. Study included 48 human embryo samples and their culture media. Two groups of embryos were identified: embryos reached the 8-cell stage on day 3 (n=34) and embryos failed to develop at any point during the incubation (n=14). Amino acids levels were measured on day 3 of embryo development; using time-lapse analysis, the precise timing of embryo cleavage, synchrony of division, grade of fragmentation etc. were established. No statistically significant differences between dividing and arresting embryos were observed in terms of amino acids production/consumption and turnover. Amino acids which were part of the culture medium did not exhibit any statistically significant correlation with kinetic parameters with the exception of the grade of fragmentation on day 3; there were negative correlation with glutamate, and positive with glutamine, glycine and taurine. In some dividing and in some arresting embryos appeared new amino acids which strongly correlated with each other, with methionine, but not with any other amino acid that is a regular part of the culture medium.


1989 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 231 ◽  
Author(s):  
BD Bavister ◽  
M Golden

In vivo fertilized hamster one-cell eggs (embryos) were cultured in a simple medium that was modified to provide a wide range of concentrations and ratios of the four major cation components (sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium) while maintaining total osmotic pressure at 290 +/- 5 mosm. Embryos were cultured in these media to find the optimum cation concentrations for supporting the first cleavage division in vitro and to determine if physiologically abnormal cation concentrations and/or ratios in standard culture media could account for the 'two-cell block' to development in vitro in this species. Despite using a broad range of ratios for sodium:potassium (from 45:1 to 5:1) and for calcium:magnesium (from 17:1 to 1:1), there were no significant differences in the proportions of fertilized eggs that underwent the first cleavage division (approx. 60-80% across all treatments), and none of the two-cell embryos underwent further cleavage during extended culture. These data demonstrate that the first cleavage division of hamster embryos in vitro is insensitive to extracellular concentrations and ratios of the major cations, and that the non-physiological concentrations and/or ratios of these cations in the culture medium are not the primary reason for the failure of hamster zygotes to develop past the two-cell stage in vitro.


Zygote ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 662-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayla J. Perkel ◽  
Pavneesh Madan

SummarySpent culture medium can provide valuable information regarding the physiological state of a bovine preimplantation embryos through non-invasive analysis of the sum/depleted metabolite constituents. Metabolomics has become of great interest as an adjunct technique to morphological and cleavage-rate assessment, but more importantly, in improving our understanding of metabolism. In this study, in vitro produced bovine embryos developing at different rates were evaluated using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR). Spent culture medium from individually cultured embryos (2-cell to blastocyst stage) were divided into two groups based on their cleavage rate fast growing (FG) and slow growing (SG; developmentally delayed by 12–24 h), then analyzed by a 600 MHz NMR spectrometer. Sixteen metabolites were detected and investigated for sum/depletion throughout development. Data indicate distinct differences between the 4-cell SG and FG embryos for pyruvate (P < 0.05, n = 9) and at the 16-cell stage for acetate, tryptophan, leucine/isoleucine, valine and histidine. Overall sum/depletion levels of metabolites demonstrated that embryos produced glutamate, but consumed histidine, tyrosine, glycine, methionine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, lysine, arginine, acetate, threonine, alanine, pyruvate, valine, isoleucine/leucine, and lactate with an overall trend of higher consumption of these metabolites by FG groups. Principal component analysis revealed distinct clustering of the plain medium, SG, and FG group, signifying the uniqueness of the metabolomic signatures of each of these groups. This study is the first of its kind to characterize the metabolomic profiles of SG and FG bovine embryos produced in vitro using 1H NMR. Elucidating differences between embryos of varying developmental rates could contribute to a better understanding of embryonic health and physiology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Carlos Sorgato ◽  
Jackeline Schultz Soares ◽  
Silvana de Paula Quintão Scalon ◽  
Suzana Targanski Sajovic Pereira ◽  
Débora De Freitas Brotto ◽  
...  

Asymbiotic germination is considered an efficient and viable technique that can increase germination rates. The effect of type and concentration of disinfestants, and the exposure time to disinfestants may differ according to the plant species. Therefore, species-specific standardization of disinfestation agent and procedure is necessary to achieve optimal germination rates. The objective of this study was to determine a disinfestation methodology to increase in vitro germination rates and the early development of seedlings of Dendrobium nobile and Dendrobium phalaenopsis, using different times for seed disinfestation and different culture media. Seeds were disinfected by soaking in a 0.8% sodium hypochlorite solution for 5 or 15 min under aseptic conditions, after which seed suspensions were either washed with water or left unwashed. Next, they were seeded in culture flasks containing four different culture media (MS, ½MS, K, and VW). The flasks were then transferred to a growth room under controlled photoperiod and temperature, where they remained under an irradiance of 20 μmol m-2 s-1. Germination rates of the species were evaluated 45 days after placement in the culture flasks. A higher germination rate was observed when the seeds were triple washed, regardless of the culture medium or soaking time. Seed soaking disinfestation for 5 min is also recommended. MS and ½MS media were the most effective culture media in promoting in vitro germination of the species under study.  


Zygote ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akihiro Yoneda ◽  
Aki Okada ◽  
Teruhiko Wakayama ◽  
Junji Ueda ◽  
Tomomasa Watanabe

SummaryThe phenomenon of the developmental arrest at the 2-cell stage of 1-cell embryos from some mouse strains during in vitro culture is known as the 2-cell block. We investigated the specific factors involved in the 2-cell block of AKR embryos by means of a modified culture system, the production of reconstructed embryos by pronuclear exchange and a cross experiment. In a culture medium with phosphate, 94.6% of 1-cell embryos from the C57BL mouse strain developed to the blastocyst stage, but 95.7% of embryos from the AKR mouse strain showed 2-cell block. Phosphate-free culture medium rescued the 2-cell block of AKR embryos and accelerated the first cell cycle of the embryos. Co-culture with BRL cells and a BRL-conditioned medium fractionated below 30 kDa also rescued the 2-cell block of AKR embryos. Examinations of in vitro development of reconstructed embryos and of embryos from F1 females between AKR and C57BL strains clearly demonstrated that the AKR cytoplast caused the 2-cell block. In the backcrossed female progeny between (AKR × C57BL) F1 males and AKR females, about three-quarters of the embryos were of the 2-cell blocking phenotype and about one-quarter were of the non-blocking phenotype. These results suggest that two genes are responsible for the 2-cell block of AKR embryos.


2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 274
Author(s):  
A.S. Lima ◽  
C.E. Ferguson ◽  
M.B. Wheeler

The in vitro culture systems used to produce pig embryos generally result in few embryos developing to the blastocyst stage. The use of pyruvate (pyr) and lactate (lac) during the culture of zygotes to the 8-cell stage followed by glucose (glu) supplementation replacing pyr and lac appears to be beneficial for embryo development in the pig. The aim of this study was to compare the embryo development rates from pig oocytes fertilized with and without cumulus cells in 100-μL microdrops (MD) and cultured in 100-μL MD or microchannels (MC), using NCSU23 containing 8 mg/mL of BSA and supplemented with (1) glu or (2) pyr/lac or (3) pyr/lac for the first three days and then with just glu for the remainder of culture period (pyr/lac-glu). Sow oocytes were matured in TCM199 supplemented with gonadotropins for the first 22 h, and for an additional 22 h without hormones. After 44 h of maturation, oocytes were placed in MD of modified tris-buffered medium to be fertilized using 3 × 105 sperm/mL. Oocytes were divided into two groups for fertilization: with and without cumulus cells. Following 6 h of fertilization, all inseminated oocytes were washed, divided into groups of 15, allotted to the three culture media treatment groups as described above, and incubated in either MD or MC. With the exception of one treatment there were no significant differences in development rates among embryos cultured in MD or MC, hence data were pooled from these two culture devices. Only oocytes fertilized without cumulus cells and cultured in pyr/lac in MC appeared to have lower rates of blastocyst formation (11.67%) than those cultured in MD (26.67%) in the same culture medium. When the six treatments were compared, oocytes fertilized with cumulus cells and cultured in glu had significantly higher (P < 0.05) blastocyst rates and hatching rates compared with the other treatments, with the exception of those fertilized without cumulus cells and cultured in pyr/lac-glu. There were no significant differences among other treatments in Day 7 blastocyst or in Day 9 hatching rates. In conclusion, both culture devices can be used to reach similar blastocyst rates with different treatments. In this experiment, the removal of cumulus cells before fertilization appeared to enhance embryo development in vitro when sequential media are used. On the other hand, the presence of cumulus cells before fertilization seems to enhance embryo development when non-sequential glu medium is used. Table 1. Embryo development rates on Day 9 for three different culture treatments


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document