Gene expression profiles of vitrified in vitro- and in vivo-derived bovine blastocysts.

Vitrification is becoming a preferred method for pre-implantation embryo cryopreservation. The objective of this study was to determine the differentially expressed genes of in vivo- and in vitro-produced bovine embryos after vitrification. In vitro- (IVF) and in vivo-derived (IVV) bovine blastocysts were identified as follows: in vitro-produced fresh (IVF-F), in vitro-produced vitrified (IVF-V), in vivo-derived fresh (IVV-F), in vivo-derived vitrified (IVV-V). The microarray results showed that 53 genes were differentially regulated between IVF and IVV, and 121 genes were differentially regulated between fresh and vitrified blastocysts (P < 0.05). There were 6, 268, 962, and 17 differentially regulated genes between IVF-F × IVV-F, IVF-V × IVV-V, IVF-F × IVF-V, and IVV-F × IVV-V, respectively (P < 0.05). While gene expression was significantly different between fresh and vitrified IVF blastocysts (P < 0.05), it was similar between fresh and vitrified IVV blastocysts. Significantly up-regulated KEGG pathways included ribosome, oxidative phosphorylation, spliceosome, and oocyte meiosis in the fresh IVF blastocyst samples, while sphingolipid and purine metabolisms were up-regulated in the vitrified IVF blastocyst. The results showed that in vitro bovine blastocyst production protocols used in this study caused no major gene expression differences compared to those of in vivo-produced blastocysts. After vitrification, however, in vitro-produced blastocysts showed major gene expression differences compared to in vivo blastocysts. This study suggests that in vitro-produced embryos are of comparable quality to their in vivo counterparts. Vitrification of in vitro blastocysts, on the other hand, causes significant up-regulation of genes that are involved in stress responses.

Aksu DA ，Agca C ，Aksu S ，Bagis H ，Akkoc T ，Caputcu AT ，Arat S ，Taskin AC ，Kizil SH ，Karasahin T ，Akyol N ，Satilmis M ，Sagirkaya H ，Ustuner B ，Nur Z ，Agca Y ... -  《-》

Transcriptome changes at the initiation of elongation in the bovine conceptus.

The majority of embryonic loss in cattle occurs before maternal recognition of pregnancy, at around Day 16 postconception. The origin of the embryo can have a significant impact on the dynamics of embryo mortality. The aim of this study was to examine the temporal changes in transcriptional profile as the embryo develops from a spherical blastocyst on Day 7 to an ovoid conceptus at the initiation of elongation on Day 13 and to highlight differences in these temporal gene expression dynamics between in vivo- and in vitro-derived blastocysts that may be associated with embryonic survival/mortality using the bovine Affymetrix microarray. All embryos were produced either in vitro by in vitro fertilization or in vivo by superovulation. A proportion of Day 7 blastocysts were snap frozen, and the remainder were transferred (n = 10 per recipient) to synchronized heifers, recovered on Day 13, and snap frozen individually. Three pools of Day 7 blastocysts (n = 25 per pool) and Day 13 conceptuses (n = 5 per pool) were used for microarray analysis. In Day 7 blastocysts, 50 genes were found to be differentially expressed (P < 0.05), of which 19 were up-regulated and 31 down-regulated in the in vivo compared to in vitro embryos. In Day 13 conceptuses, 288 genes were found to be differentially expressed (P < 0.05), of which 133 were up-regulated and 155 down-regulated in the in vivo compared to in vitro embryos. The comparison between Day 7 and Day 13 embryos revealed significant temporal changes in transcript profile with 1806 and 909 transcripts differentially expressed in the in vitro- and in vivo-derived embryos, respectively. Across the three array comparisons between Day 7 and Day 13 embryos, 444 genes were consistently exclusively present in the in vivo embryos, whereas 1341 were exclusively present in the in vitro embryos. Regardless of the origin of the embryo, 465 differentially expressed genes between Day 7 and 13 were common to both in vivo- and in vitro-derived embryos; these genes are likely critical for the transition between the blastocyst (Day 7) and ovoid conceptus (Day 13) stages of embryo development. In order to validate the microarray findings, differences in the expression of six genes (CYP51A1, FADS1, TDGF1, HABP2, APOA2, and SLC12A2) were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR on in vivo- and in vitro-derived embryos on Day 7 and Day 13 using independent samples from those used for the microarray. Subsequent mapping of these differentially expressed genes into relevant functional groups and pathways identified important pathways involved in conceptus elongation in cattle. In conclusion, this analysis has identified genes and pathways crucial for the transition from a spherical blastocyst to an ovoid conceptus as well as those uniquely associated with a greater likelihood of embryonic survival (those unique to in vivo embryos) or loss (those unique to in vitro embryos).

Clemente M ，Lopez-Vidriero I ，O'Gaora P ，Mehta JP ，Forde N ，Gutierrez-Adan A ，Lonergan P ，Rizos D ... -  《-》

Cryopreservation affects the quality of in vitro produced bovine embryos at the molecular level.

There are still immense differences in the quality of in vitro produced embryos compared to their in vivo generated counterparts. These differences include a higher sensitivity of in vitro produced embryos towards cryopreservation. The quality of such embryos has been evaluated by morphological examination as well as the assessment of total cell numbers, pregnancy rates and in few cases through the analysis of their gene expression. The aim of the present study was to determine whether different cryopreservation methods have an influence on the quality of in vitro produced embryos after thawing. Bovine blastocysts were produced in a standard culture system (SOFaa). Having reached the stage of an expanding blastocyst on day 7, embryos were randomly either vitrified (n = 106) or cryopreserved conventionally (n = 131). Reexpansion (24h post thawing; 86/106 [81.1 ± 20.3%] of the vitrified embryos, 104/131 [79.4 ± 16.5%] of the conventionally cryopreserved embryos respectively) and hatching rates (48 h post thawing; 67/106 [63.2 ± 24.5%] of the vitrified embryos, 80/131 [61.1 ± 29.3%] of the conventionally cryopreserved embryos respectively) were similar. No significant differences in total cell numbers as well as live-dead cell ratio could be seen in hatched blastocysts of either cryopreservation group as well as in a control group (embryos cultured up to the stage of a hatched blastocyst and not cryopreserved by either method). Additionally, RT-qPCR was used to assess the relative abundance of eight developmentally important genes (HSPA1A, SLC2A1, SLC2A3, DSC2, CDH1, TJP1, DNMT3A, IFNT2) in hatched embryos of all groups. The results revealed significant differences in 4 of 8 (HSPA1A, SLC2A1, TJP1, DSC2) gene transcripts when comparing vitrified embryos to embryos of the control group and in 6 of 8 gene transcripts (HSPA1A, SLC2A1, TJP1, SLC2A3, DNMT3A, IFNT2) when comparing slow frozen embryos to embryos of the control group. Furthermore, the comparison of vitrified embryos to those frozen conventionally solely showed significant differences in the relative abundance of IFNT2. These results indicate that although not visible in gross morphology, but in the relative amount of gene transcripts, vitrification may be the more suitable method to cryopreserve in vitro produced bovine embryos cultured in SOF media.

Stinshoff H ，Wilkening S ，Hanstedt A ，Brüning K ，Wrenzycki C ... -  《-》

Vitrification of ICSI- and IVF-derived bovine blastocysts by minimum volume cooling procedure: effect of developmental stage and age.

The objective was to investigate the effects of developmental stage (fully-expanded or expanding blastocysts) and/or age (harvested on Days 7 or 8) on post-vitrification in vitro survival of bovine blastocysts derived from intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF). Post-warming survival (re-expansion of blastocoele within 24 h) of ICSI-derived fully-expanded blastocysts (80%) was similar to that of their IVF-derived counterparts (88%). However, the ability of ICSI-derived expanding blastocysts to survive vitrification procedures (61%) was lower than that of IVF-derived blastocysts (85%; P < 0.05), although the ICSI- and IVF-derived fresh blastocysts were of similar quality. The age of the blastocysts before vitrification did not affect cryotolerance for either ICSI-derived (73 and 59% for Days 7 and 8 embryos, respectively) or IVF-derived blastocysts (86% for both Days 7 and 8 embryos). At 24 h of post-warming culture, ICSI-derived blastocysts surviving vitrification contained a higher proportion of dead cells than their IVF-derived counterparts (5-13% vs. 2-4%; P < 0.05), but these proportions were not different from those of fresh control embryos. There was an adverse effect of vitrification on the ability of blastocysts to hatch within 72 h of culture only in IVF-derived Day 8 blastocysts (41 and 70% in vitrified and fresh control groups, respectively). In conclusion, the proportion of blastocysts that survived vitrification procedures was similar for ICSI- and IVF-derived bovine blastocysts if the former were cultured to the fully-expanded stage prior to vitrification, with no significant difference between embryos harvested on Day 7 versus Day 8.

Abdalla H ，Shimoda M ，Hara H ，Morita H ，Kuwayama M ，Hirabayashi M ，Hochi S ... -  《-》

Osmotic challenge and expression of aquaporin 3 and Na/K ATPase genes in bovine embryos produced in vitro.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of culture media and stage of development in the osmotic ability of in vitro-fertilized bovine embryos and the expression of aquaporin 3 (Aqp3) and Na/K ATPase isoform 1 (ATPAse1) genes in embryos (i) with different ability to undergo rehydration and (ii) following vitrification. In experiment 1, in vitro fertilized presumptive zygotes were co-cultured in SOFaac or modified CR2aa medium and embryos at blastocyst and expanded blastocyst stages at day 7 post-insemination were exposed to NaCl hypertonic medium (900 mOsm) for 5 min following 120 min of culture in isotonic medium in order to evaluate dehydration and rehydration, respectively. No difference (P>0.05) on blastocyst rate was found between CR2aa and SOFaac medium but embryos co-cultured in SOFaac medium underwent greater (P<0.05) dehydration. Embryos at expanded blastocyst stage underwent greater dehydration but slower rehydration than embryos at blastocysts stage (P<0.05). In the experiment 2, the amount of Aqp3 and ATPase1 transcripts were quantified in blastocysts with high or low rehydration after exposure to hypertonic medium. No difference (P>0.05) on relative amount of transcripts was found in either genes. In the experiment 3, expanded blastocysts produced in a co-culture system were vitrified, warmed and then cultured for 72 h for analysis of embryo survival and amount of Aqp3 and ATPase1 transcripts. Lower (P<0.05) embryo survival rate was found for vitrified-warmed embryos (57.9%) than for their fresh counterparts (84.6%). There was no difference on expression of ATPase1 gene but lower (P<0.01) amount of Aqp3 transcripts was found in the vitrified-warmed embryos. In conclusion, embryo ability to undergo shrinkage and swelling is influenced by medium used in a co-culture system and by embryo stage. Rehydrating ability of embryos after exposure to NaCl hypertonic medium is not associated with variations on expression of Aqp3 and ATPase1 genes, but the vitrification can alter gene expression of in vitro-fertilized bovine embryos produced in a co-culture system.

Camargo LS ，Boite MC ，Wohlres-Viana S ，Mota GB ，Serapiao RV ，Sa WF ，Viana JH ，Nogueira LA ... -  《-》