The role of the visceral yolk sac in mediating protein utilization by rat embryos cultured in vitro.

Conceptuses from 9-5-day pregnant rats have been cultured for 48 h in heat-inactivated homologous serum. Embryonic development was normal. The protein contents of embryos and visceral yolk sacs after different periods of culture were recorded. When I-labelled polyvinylpyrrolidone or [H]dextran were added to the culture serum, radioactivity was accumulated by the yolk sac, but only background levels were detected in the embryo itself. The amount of radioactivity found in the yolk sac varied with the length of the interval before harvesting during which I-labelled PVP or [H]dextran was present. When formaldehyde-denatured I-labelled bovine serum albumin was added to the culture serum, little radioactivity accumulated in the yolk sac and only background levels were found in the embryo. Trichloroacetic acid-soluble radioactivity steadily appeared in the culture serum, however. When conceptuses were cultured in glucoseand vitamin-supplemented dialysed serum from rats injected 2 h previously with [H]leucine, radioactivity was found in both embryos and yolk sacs. The amount of radioactivity in these tissues increased with duration of exposure to H-labelled serum proteins. After short exposures little of the yolk sac and embryonic radioactivity was acid-insoluble, but this proportion increased with duration of exposure. These results are interpreted as follows. Intact macromolecules cannot enter the cells of the embryo itself, but are captured by pinocytosis into the cells of the visceral yolk-sac endoderm. Indigestible macromolecules such as I-labelled polyvinylpyrrolidone and [H]dextran accumulate within the yolk-sac lysosomes, but proteins are digested there by the lysosomal enzymes. The radiolabelled digestion product of I-labelled bovine albumin is [I]iodotyrosine, which cells cannot utilize and so is excreted into the culture serum. The labelled digestion product of the H-labelled rat serum proteins is [H]leucine, which is used for protein synthesis in both embryo and yolk sac. The experiments provide direct evidence for the long-suspected role of the yolk sac in mediating embryonic nutrition in the period of development prior to the establishment of a functional chorioallantoic placenta.