Preimplantation mammalian aggregation and injection chimeras

Mechanics and spiral formation in the rat cornea

During the maturation of some mammals such as mice and rats, corneal epithelial cells tend to develop into patterns such as spirals over time. A better understanding of these patterns can help to understand how the organ develops and may give insight into some of the diseases affecting corneal development. In this paper, a framework for explaining the development of the epithelial cells forming spiral patterns due to the effect of tensile and shear strains is proposed. Using chimeric animals, made by combining embryonic cells from genetically distinguishable strains, we can observe the development of patterns in the cornea. Aggregates of cell progeny from one strain or the other called patches form as organs and tissue develop. The boundaries of these patches are fitted with logarithmic spirals on confocal images of adult rat corneas. To compare with observed patterns, we develop a three-dimensional large strain finite element model for the rat cornea under intraocular pressure to examine the strain distribution on the cornea surface. The model includes the effects of oriented and dispersed fibrils families throughout the cornea and a nearly incompressible matrix. Tracing the directions of critical strain vectors on the cornea surface leads to spiral-like curves that are compared to the observed logarithmic spirals. Good agreement between the observed and numerical curves supports the proposed assumption that shear and tensile strains facilitate sliding of epithelial cells to develop spiral patterns.

Embryos generated from oocytes lacking complex N- and O-glycans have compromised development and implantation

Female mice generating oocytes lacking complex N- and O-glycans (double mutants (DM)) produce only one small litter before undergoing premature ovarian failure (POF) by 3 months. Here we investigate the basis of the small litter by evaluating ovulation rate and embryo development in DM (Mgat1(F/F)C1galt1(F/F):ZP3Cre) and Control (Mgat1(F/F)C1galt1(F/F)) females. Surprisingly, DM ovulation rate was normal at 6 weeks, but declined dramatically by 9 weeks. In vitro development of zygotes to blastocysts was equivalent to Controls although all embryos from DM females lacked a normal zona pellucida (ZP) and ∼30% lacked a ZP entirely. In contrast, in vivo preimplantation development resulted in less embryos recovered from DM females compared with Controls at 3.5 days post coitum (dpc) (3.2±1.3 vs 7.0±0.6). Furthermore, only 45% of mated DM females contained embryos at 3.5 dpc. Of the preimplantation embryos collected from DM females, approximately half were morulae unlike Controls where the majority were blastocysts, indicating delayed embryo development in DM females. Post-implantation development in DM females was analysed to determine whether delayed preimplantation development affected subsequent development. In DM females at 5.5 dpc, only ∼40% of embryos found at 3.5 dpc had implanted. However, at 6.5 dpc, implantation sites in DM females corresponded to embryo numbers at 3.5 dpc indicating delayed implantation. At 9.5 dpc, the number of decidua corresponded to embryo numbers 6 days earlier indicating that all implanted embryos progress to midgestation. Therefore, a lack of complex N- and O-glycans in oocytes during development impairs early embryo development and viability in vivo leading to delayed implantation and a small litter.

Sex differentiation and germ cell production in chimeric pigs produced by inner cell mass injection into blastocysts

This study aimed at collecting background knowledge for chimeric pig production. We analyzed the genetic sex of the chimeric pigs in relation to phenotypic sex as well as to functional germ cell formation. Chimeric pigs were produced by injecting Day 6 or Day 7 inner cell mass (ICM) cells into Day 6 blastocysts. Approximately 20% of the piglets born from the injected blastocysts showed overt coat color chimerism regardless of the embryonic stage of donor cells. The male:female sex ratio was 7:2 and 6:1 in the chimeras derived from Day 6 and Day 7 ICM cells, respectively, showing an obvious bias toward males. When XX donor cells were injected into XY blastocysts at the same embryonic stage, the phenotypic sex of the resulting chimera was male with no germ-line cells formed from the donor cell lineage. On the other hand, when the donor was XY and the recipient blastocyst was XX, the phenotypic sex of the chimera was male, and germ-line cells were derived only from the donor cells. The combination of XY donor cells and XY blastocysts produced some chimeras in which the donor cell lineage did not contribute to germ-line formation even when it appeared in coat color. When the embryonic stage of the donor was advanced by 1 day in the XY-XY combination, 100% of the germ-line cells of the chimeras were derived from the donor cell lineage. These data showed that characteristics of sex differentiation and germ cell formation in chimeric pigs are similar to those in chimeric mice.

A comparative investigation on the potency of cells from the inner cell mass and trophectoderm of mouse blastocysts to produce chimeras

The ability of trophectoderm (TE) cells to produce chimeric mice (pluripotency) was compared with that of inner cell mass (ICM) cells. TE and ICM cells of blastocysts and hatching or hatched blastocysts derived from albino mice (CD-1, Gpi-1a/a) were aggregated with zona cut 8- to 16-cell stage embryos or injected into the blastocoele from non-albino mice (C57BL/6 x C3H/He, Gpi-1b/b). After transfer to pseudopregnant female mice, the contribution of the donor cells was examined by glucose phosphate isomerase (GPI) analysis of embryos, membrane and placenta at mid-gestation (Day 10.5 and 12.5) or by the coat color of newborn mice. In contrast to ICM cells, there was no contribution of TE cells in the conceptuses and no coat color chimeric young were obtained. After pre-labeling of TE cells with fluorescent latex microparticles, they were aggregated with embryos and the allocation of TE cells at the compacted morula and blastocyst stages was observed under a fluorescent microscope. Although the TE cells were observed attached onto the surface of the embryos at morula and blastocyst stages, unlike the ICM cells, they were not positively incorporated into the embryos. Thus, the pluripotency of TE cells from mouse blastocysts was not induced by the aggregation and injection methods.

Characterization of DNA synthesis during the 2-cell stage and the production of tetraploid chimeric pig embryos

The DNA content of nuclei during the 2-cell stage as well as in presumptive tetraploid embryos was investigated. In vivo produced pig zygotes were cultured to the 2-cell stage and either monitored for cleavage to the 4-cell stage or mounted at various times post-cleavage and DNA content determined. The length of the 2-cell stage was 14.8 +/- 3.0 hr. There was a significant increase in the length of the 2-cell stage due to the time in vitro as a zygote (P < 0.001: R2 = 0.866). The DNA content increased (P < 0.05) each 2 hr postcleavage until 10 hr postcleavage. This suggested that there is a short G1 and G2 phase and a relatively long phase of DNA synthesis. Next, 2-cell stage embryos were pulsed with electricity to induce cell-to-cell fusion. Whereas only about half fused within 30 min (55%), most (96%) developed to the blastocyst stage. The DNA content of the nuclei of the embryos was consistent with them being tetraploid. A final experiment was designed to evaluate the ability of the tetraploid embryo to form a chimera with isolated inner cell mass (ICM) cells. Inner cell masses were isolated from d 6 embryos, cut into thirds, labeled with DiO (a membrane die) and injected into the perivitelline space of 4-cell-stage tetraploid embryos. Twelve of 17 formed blastocysts. In most (8/12), the ICM of the resulting blastocyst was labeled, whereas in one the only fluorescence was in the trophectoderm, and in two fluorescence was evenly distributed between the ICM and trophectoderm. These results suggest that it may be possible to create a fetus derived from ICM cells, or potentially stem cells, that has a tetraploid trophoblast.

Cryopreservation of mouse half-morulae and chimeric embryos by vitrification

Mouse half-morulae were cryopreserved less than or equal to 1, 3, 6, and 12 hr after bisection by the vitrification method using 25% glycerol and 25% 1,2-propanediol as cryoprotectant. The developmental rates of the frozen-thawed half-embryos to blastocysts in vitro were 77.8% (63/81), 82.0% (41/50), 92.1% (117/127), and 0% (0/37), respectively. Sixty-one of the half-embryos that had been vitrified 6 hr after the bisection followed by transfer to five recipients resulted in a total of ten (16.4%) normal fetuses. Chimeric mouse embryos constructed by two half-morulae were also vitrified 6 and 16 hr after aggregation. Survivors were obtained from the former case: 40 (80.0%) of 50 frozen-thawed embryos developed in vitro to blastocysts, and, after transfer, six chimeric offspring were obtained from the 34 vitrified chimeric embryos. These results showed that mouse half-morulae and chimeric embryos could be cryopreserved by the vitrification method. It seems possible to manufacture a chimeric mouse embryo of defined genotypic composition that can be analyzed during its frozen state using the identical half-embryos of the components.