Hostname: page-component-669899f699-8p65j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-26T03:24:49.477Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Secretion of stem cell factor and granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor by mouse embryos in culture: influence of group culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

A. P. Contramaestre ,
F. Sifontes ,
R. Marín  and
M. I. Camejo
A. P. Contramaestre
Affiliation:
Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Biología de Organismos, Baruta, Venezuela.
F. Sifontes
Affiliation:
Bioterio del Instituto Nacional de Higiene Rafael Rangel, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela.
R. Marín
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Bioenergética Cellular, Centro de Biofísica y Bioquímica, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela.
M. I. Camejo*
Affiliation:
Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Biología de Organismos, Sartenejas, Baruta, Estado Miranda, Venezuela. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Biología de Organismos, Baruta, Venezuela.
*
All correspondence to: María Isabel Camejo. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Biología de Organismos, Sartenejas, Baruta, Estado Miranda, Venezuela. Tel/Fax: +58 212 9063077. e-mail: mcamejo@usb.ve
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Previous studies showed that the addition of a growth factor to the culture medium could modulate embryo development. The possible secretion of different factors to the culture medium by the embryo itself, however, has been poorly evaluated. The present study was designed to investigate: (1) the influence of single or group culture on the development of 2-cell mouse embryos (strain CD-1) to the blastocyst stage; (2) the release of granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and stem cell factor (SCF) into the culture medium by the embryo; and (3) the levels of GM-CSF and SCF in the culture medium from both single and group embryos. Two-cell CD-1 mouse embryos were cultured for 96 h singly or in groups of five embryos per drop. GM-CSF and SCF were assayed by ELISA in the complete culture medium. It was found that embryos cultured in groups gave a higher percentage of total blastocyst formation and hatched blastocyst when compared with single embryo culture. The mouse embryos secreted GM-CSF and SCF to the culture medium. The concentration of these cytokines is significantly higher in the group cultures than the level found in single cultures. In conclusion, mouse embryos in culture secrete GM-CSF and SCF to the culture medium and the concentration of these cytokines increases during communal culture. These factors may be operating in both autocrine and paracrine pathways to modulate embryo development during in vitro culture.

Keywords

BlastocystEmbryoGM-CSFGroup cultureSCF
Type
Research Article
Information
Zygote , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , November 2008 , pp. 297 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Almagor, M., Bejar, C., Kafka, I. & Yaffe, H. (1996). Pregnancy rates after communal growth of preimplantation human embryos in vitro. Fertil. Steril. 66, 394–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bavister, B.D. (2000). Interactions between embryos and the culture milieu. Theriogenology 53, 619–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Behr, B., Mooney, S., Wen, Y., Polan, M.L. & Wang, H. (2005). Preliminary experience with low concentration of granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor: a potential regulator in preimplantation mouse embryo development and apoptosis. J. Assist. Reprod. Genet. 22, 25–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brison, D.R. & Schultz, R.M. (1997). Apoptosis during mouse blastocyst formation: evidence for a role for survival factors including transforming growth factor-a. Biol. Reprod. 56, 1088–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cui, X.S., Lee, J.Y., Choi, S.H., Kwon, M.S., Kim, T. & Kim, N.H. (2004). Mouse granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor enhances viability of porcine embryos in defined culture conditions. Anim. Reprod. Sci. 84, 169–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, M.R., Bastias, M.C., Hill, G.A. & Osteen, K.G. (1993). Co-culture of mouse embryos with cells isolated from the human ovarian follicle, oviduct and uterine endometrium. Fertil. Steril. 59, 138–42.Google Scholar
Gardner, D.K., Lane, M.W. & Lane, M. (1997). Development of the inner cell mass in mouse blastocysts is stimulated reducing the embryo: incubation volume ratio. Hum. Reprod. 12, 182–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardy, K. & Spanos, S. (2002). Growth factor expression and function in the human and mouse preimplantation embryo. J. Endrocrinol. 172, 221–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harlow, G.M. & Quinn, P. (1982). Development of preimplantation mouse embryos in vivo and in vitro. Aust. J. Biol. Sci. 35, 187–93.Google Scholar
Kane, M.T., Morgan, P.M. & Coonan, C. (1997). Peptide growth factors and preimplantation development. Hum. Reprod. Update 3, 137–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kurzawa, R., Glabowski, W., Baczkowski, T., Wiszniewska, B. & Marchlewicz, M. (2004). Growth factors protect in vitro cultured embryos from the consequences of oxidative stress. Zygote 12, 231–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lane, M. & Gardner, D.K. (1992). Effect of incubation volume and embryo density on the development and viability of mouse embryos in vitro. Hum. Reprod. 7, 558–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mitsunari, M., Harada, T., Tanikawa, M., Iwabe, T., Taniguchi, F. & Terakawa, N. (1999). The potential role of stem cell factor and its receptor c-kit in the mouse blastocyst implantation. Mol. Hum. Reprod. 5, 874–9.Google Scholar
O'Neill, C. (1998). Autocrine mediators are required to act on the embryo by the 2-cell stage to promote normal development and survival of mouse preimplantation embryos in vitro. Biol. Reprod. 58, 1303–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Neill, C. (1997). Evidence for the requirement of autocrine growth factors for development of mouse preimplantation embryos in vitro. Biol. Reprod. 56, 229–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paria, B.C. & Dey, S.K. (1990). Preimplantation embryo development in vitro: cooperative interactions among embryos and role of growth factors. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 4756–60.Google Scholar
Robertson, S.A., Mayrhofer, G. & Seamark, R.F. (1992). Uterine epithelial cells synthesize granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-6 in pregnant and nonpregnant mice. Biol. Reprod. 46, 1069–79.Google Scholar
Robertson, S.A., Roberts, C.T., Farr, K.L., Dunn, A.R. & Seamark, R.F. (1999). Fertility impairment in granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor-deficient mice. Biol. Reprod. 60, 251–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robertson, S.A., Sjoblom, C., Jasper, M.J., Norman, R.J. & Seamark, R.F. (2001). Granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor promotes glucose transport and blastomere viability in murine preimplantation embryos. Biol. Reprod. 64, 1206–15.Google Scholar
Sharkey, A.M., Dellow, K., Blayney, M., Macnamee, M., Charnock–Jones, S. & Smith, S.K. (1995). Stage-specific expression of cytokine and receptor messenger ribonucleic acids in human preimplantation embryos. Biol. Reprod. 53, 974–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sjoblom, C., Roberts, C.T., Wikland, M. & Robertson, S.A. (2005). Granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor alleviates adverse consequences of embryo culture on fetal growth trajectory and placental morphogenesis. Endocrinology 146, 2142–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sjoblom, C., Wikland, M. & Robertson, S.A. (1999). Granulocyte–macrophage colony stimulating factor promotes human blastocyst development in vitro. Hum. Reprod. 14, 3069–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taniguchi, F., Harada, T., Nara, M., Deura, I., Mitsunari, M. & Terakawa, N. (2004). Co-culture with a human granulosa cell line enhanced the development of murine preimplantation embryos via SCF/c-kit system. J. Assist. Reprod. Genet. 21, 223–8.Google Scholar