Analysis of gene expression patterns during early stages of mammalian embryonic development can provide important clues about gene function, cell-cell interaction and signaling mechanisms that guide embryonic patterning. However, dissection of the mouse embryo from the decidua shortly after implantation can be a challenging procedure, and detailed step-by-step documentation of this process is l...

Human endometrium has been extensively investigated in the search for markers capable of predicting its receptive status. The completion of the Human Genome Project has triggered a rapid development of new fields in molecular biology, the "transcriptomics" being a major turning point in the knowledge acquisition of endometrial receptivity. Based on this, a customized Endometrial Receptivity Arr...

PROBLEM Implantation failure is common in women with advanced maternal age, partly because of the increased number of aneuploid embryos. These women constitute the majority of patients for IVF treatment. As multiple pregnancies is a major hazard of preterm delivery, the aim is to select a competent embryo for single transfer. This study reviews currently used methods for selecting the competent...

The protein content of fluids isolated from the lumen of the uterus of the ferret was correlated with growth of the pre-implantation embryo. Similar observations were made with mink for comparative purposes. Tt is concluded that in the ferret: Protein content rises coincidentally with blastocyst expansion, becoming especially high when the embryo is implanting. The proteins present early in the...

A critical point in mammalian development is when the early embryo implants into its mother's uterus. This event has historically been difficult to study due to the fact that it occurs within the maternal tissue and therefore is hidden from view. In this review, we discuss how the mouse embryo is prepared for implantation and the molecular mechanisms involved in directing and coordinating this ...

Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) regulates gonadotrophin biosynthesis and release in the anterior pituitary via specific receptors. Extrapituitary expression and action of GnRH have been demonstrated in several species. A possible role for GnRH in preimplantation embryonic development, endometrial preparation, and the implantation process has been previously suggested. Moreover, the prese...

During mammalian pre-implantation embryo development, when the first asymmetry emerges and how it develops to direct distinct cell fates remain longstanding questions. Here, by analyzing single-blastomere transcriptome data from mouse and human preimplantation embryos, we revealed that the initial blastomere-toblastomere biases emerge as early as the first embryonic cleavage division, following...

The major and essential objective of pre-implantation development is to establish embryonic and extra-embryonic cell fates. To address when and how this fundamental process is initiated in mammals, we characterize transcriptomes of all individual cells throughout mouse pre-implantation development. This identifies targets of master pluripotency regulators Oct4 and Sox2 as being highly heterogen...