The Qa-2 antigen, the product of the Ped (Preimplantation embryo development) gene, is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked cell surface protein encoded in the Q region of the mouse major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Ped fast (Qa-2+) mouse strains have significantly higher preimplantation embryo cleavage rates both in vivo and in vitro than Ped slow (Qa-2-) mice. In this study, we determi...

This study was designed to provide further information on mouse and human embryo development in alpha-modified minimum essential medium (alphaMEM). First, we compared the development and implantation potential of murine in-vitro fertilized (IVF) embryos cultured in alphaMEM, in the presence and absence of co-culture cells. No significant difference was observed in blastocyst rate between alphaM...

The overall aim of this work was to examine the expression profiles for fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs) and describe their biological importance during bovine pre- and peri-implantation conceptus development. FGFR1 and FGFR2 mRNAs were detected at 1-, 2-, 8-cell, morula and blastocyst stages whereas FGFR3 and FGFR4 mRNAs were detected after the 8-cell stage but not earlier. The abund...

This study examined a new method for vitrification of blastocysts that is safe, simple and easy to learn and use. Current vitrification techniques have shortcomings that include the use of dimethyl sulphoxide, one of the more toxic cryoprotectants, and minute containers that are difficult to handle and are usually open to contamination. Cell handling and loading times are very short, which allo...

Objective(s)To determine whether women with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) (quantitatively) had lower rates of euploid blastocysts, as a proxy for oocyte quality.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingUniversity reproductive health clinic.Patient(s)A total 1,152 aged 19–42 years underwent 1,675 IVF cycles yielding 8,073 blastocysts biopsy from 2010 to 2019.Interventions(s)Preimplantation gen...

STUDY QUESTION Does the human embryo growth rate affect the outcome of vitrified-warmed blastocyst transfer? SUMMARY ANSWER Following vitrification, the incidence of abnormal spindle morphology was increased and the implantation competence was decreased in growth-retarded embryos compared with normally developing embryos. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Various types of spindle abnormality occur in h...

the key role of chemokine receptor cxcr4 in the maintenance of stemness property of stem cells has been shown recently. the low level laser irradiation (llli) is being used currently in a wide variety of clinical cases as a therapeutic tool for wound healing, relieving pain and destroying tumor cells. the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of llli mimicking low level laser therapy (ll...

Early embryonic loss and altered gene expression in in vitro produced blastocysts are believed to be partly caused by aberrant DNA methylation. However, specific embryonic stage which is sensitive to in vitro culture conditions to alter the DNA methylation profile of the resulting blastocysts remained unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the stage specific effect of in v...

Frozen-thawed spermatozoa collected from a beef bull (Japanese Black) were used for in vitro fertilization (IVF) of matured oocytes obtained from dairy (Holstein) and beef (Japanese Black) females. Embryos were examined for fertilization, cleavage rate, interval between insemination and blastocyst production (experiment I), total cell number per embryo and sex ratio during blastocyst formation ...

Colony-stimulating factor 2 (CSF2) enhances competence of the bovine embryo to establish and maintain pregnancy after the embryo is transferred into a recipient. Mechanisms involved could include regulation of lineage commitment, growth, or differentiation of the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE). Experiments were conducted to evaluate regulation by CSF2 of pluripotency of the ICM an...