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Oldak B, Aguilera-Castrejon A, Hanna JH. Recent insights into mammalian natural and synthetic ex utero embryogenesis. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2022; 77:101988. [PMID: 36179582 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2022.101988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2022] [Revised: 08/24/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Research on early postimplantation mammalian development has been limited by the small size and intrauterine confinement of the developing embryos. Owing to the inability to observe and manipulate living embryos at these stages in utero, the establishment of robust ex utero embryo-culture systems that capture prolonged periods of mouse development has been an important research goal. In the last few years, these methods have been significantly improved by the optimization and enhancement of in vitro culture systems sustaining embryo development during peri-implantation stages for several species, and more recently, proper growth of natural mouse embryos from pregastrulation to late organogenesis stages and of embryonic stem cell (ES)-derived synthetic embryo models until early organogenesis stages. Here, we discuss the most recent ex utero embryo-culture systems established to date for rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans. We emphasize their technical aspects and developmental timeframe and provide insights into the new opportunities that these methods will contribute to the study of natural and synthetic mammalian embryogenesis and the stem-cell field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernardo Oldak
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
| | | | - Jacob H Hanna
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
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Zhu Q, Jia Y, Guo J, Meng X, Chong L, Xu L, Zhou L, Sun Z. Establishment of an in vitro method of rabbit embryo toxicity with toxicokinetics study. J Appl Toxicol 2021; 42:380-391. [PMID: 34322893 DOI: 10.1002/jat.4223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
This report introduces a novel method, rabbit whole embryo culture (WEC) combined with toxicokinetics (TK), for toxicity testing. Rodent WEC has been extensively used for in vitro screening of developmental toxicity. To improve the reliability of in vitro data, it is important to consider TK and species specificity. To test the utility and effectiveness of this method, we investigated the toxic effect of thalidomide on rabbit embryos and its behavior in test systems both in vitro and in vivo under the same experimental condition. The data showed that thalidomide induced embryo malformations such as embryonic brain hypoplasia, short limb buds, and declined embryonic growth both in vitro and in vivo. The toxic effect increased with the increasing exposure of the embryo to thalidomide. In addition, we observed similar toxic effects and exposure-effect relationships in vivo and in vitro. Therefore, we preliminarily conclude that this new method can effectively predict and explain thalidomide toxicity. Furthermore, we investigated the behavior of test compounds in the WEC system for the first time, and this method is expected to be an important technique for in vitro toxicity study after extensive verification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiuyang Zhu
- School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.,National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China.,Reproductive and Developmental Research Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuling Jia
- National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China.,Reproductive and Developmental Research Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jun Guo
- National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China.,Reproductive and Developmental Research Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiang Meng
- National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China.,Reproductive and Developmental Research Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Liming Chong
- National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China.,Reproductive and Developmental Research Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Li Xu
- National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China.,Reproductive and Developmental Research Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Li Zhou
- National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China.,Reproductive and Developmental Research Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zuyue Sun
- National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Reproduction Regulation, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, China.,Reproductive and Developmental Research Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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