It has been shown previously that BALB/c strain embryos tend to contribute poorly to mouse aggregation chimaeras. In the present study we showed that BALB/c cells were not preferentially allocated to any extraembryonic lineages of mouse aggregation chimaeras, but their contribution decreased during the early postimplantation period and they were significantly depleted by E8.5. The development o...

A comparison of the effects of replacing L -glutamine with either glycyl-L-glutamine or alanyl-L-glutamine in a KSOM-type medium on the development of mouse preimplantation embryos in vitro has been made. Alanyl-L-glutamine has no significant effect on the rates of blastocyst formation, onset or completion of hatching, and on the numbers of inner cell mass and trophectoderm cells that develop. ...

Maintaining a single active X-chromosome by repressing Xist is crucial for embryonic development in mice. Although the Xist activator RNF12/RLIM is present as a maternal factor, maternal Xist (Xm-Xist) is repressed during preimplantation phases to establish imprinted X-chromosome inactivation (XCI). Here we show, using a highly reproducible chromatin immunoprecipitation method that facilitates ...

BACKGROUND Pregnancy rates in women of advanced maternal age undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) are disappointingly low. It has been suggested that the use of preimplantation genetic screening of cleavage-stage embryos for aneuploidies may improve the effectiveness of IVF in these women. METHODS We conducted a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial comparing three cycles...

Consideration of embryo-derived growth factors, such as IGF1, is important when culturing an embryo in an in vitro fertilization (IVF) setting, or when studying the effect of growth factors on embryo development in vitro. Addition of IGF1 to the culture medium has been reported to cause a range of developmental responses in preimplantation mouse embryos. This variability may be due to culture o...

According to the "developmental origin of health and disease" hypothesis, the metabolic set points of glucose and lipid metabolism are determined prenatally. In the case of a diabetic pregnancy, the embryo is exposed to higher glucose and lipid concentrations as early as during preimplantation development. We used the rabbit to study the effect of maternal diabetes type 1 on lipid accumulation ...

Poor maternal nutrition during pregnancy can alter postnatal phenotype and increase susceptibility to adult cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. However, underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, we show that maternal low protein diet (LPD), fed exclusively during mouse preimplantation development, leads to offspring with increased weight from birth, sustained hypertension, and abnorma...

OBJECTIVE To update and review the techniques and indications of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and preimplantation genetic screening (PGS). OPTIONS Discussion about the genetic and technical aspects of preimplantation reproductive techniques, particularly those using new cytogenetic technologies and embryo-stage biopsy. OUTCOMES Clinical outcomes of reproductive techniques followi...

Early patterning and polarity is of fundamental interest in preimplantation embryonic development. Label-free subcellular 3D live imaging is very helpful to its related studies. We have developed a novel system of full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) for noninvasive 3D subcellular live imaging of preimplantation mouse embryos with no need of dye labeling. 3D digitized embryos can be...

Phosphorylation of histone H3 at Ser10 (H3S10P) has been linked to a variety of cellular processes, such as chromosome condensation and gene activation/silencing. Remarkably, in mammalian somatic cells, H3S10P initiates in the pericentromeric heterochromatin during the late G2 phase, and phosphorylation spreads throughout the chromosomes arms in prophase, being maintained until the onset of ana...