The formation of multivesicular bodies in activated blastocysts is influenced by autophagy and FGF signaling in mice

Dormant blastocysts during delayed implantation undergo autophagic activation, which is an adaptive response to prolonged survival in utero during less favorable environment. We observed that multivesicular bodies (MVBs) accumulate in the trophectoderm of dormant blastocysts upon activation for implantation. Since autophagosomes are shown to fuse with MVBs and efficient autophagic degradation requires functional MVBs, we examined if MVB formation in activated blastocysts are associated with protracted autophagic state during dormancy. We show here that autophagic activation during dormancy is one precondition for MVB formation in activated blastocysts. Furthermore, the blockade of FGF signaling with PD173074 partially interferes with MVB formation in these blastocysts, suggesting the involvement of FGFR signaling in this process. We believe that MVB formation in activated blastocysts after dormancy is a potential mechanism of clearing subcellular debris accumulated during prolonged autophagy.