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Research Containing: Pregnancy

Shear stress induces preimplantation embryo death that is delayed by the zona pellucida and associated with stress-activated protein kinase-mediated apoptosis

by cfynanon 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

In this study, we discovered that embryos sense shear stress and sought to characterize the kinetics and the enzymatic mechanisms underlying induction of embryonic lethality by shear stress. Using a rotating wall vessel programmed to produce 1.2 dynes/cm2 shear stress, it was found that shear stress caused lethality within 12 h for E3.5 blastocysts. Embryos developed an approximate 100% increase in mitogen-activated protein kinase 8/9 (formerly known as stress-activated protein kinase/junC kinase 1/2) phosphorylation by 6 h of shear stress that further increased to approximately 350% by 12 h. Terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase dUTP nick end labeling/apoptosis was at baseline levels at 6 h and increased to approximately 500% of baseline at 12 h, when irreversible commitment to death occurred. A mitogen-activated protein kinase 8/9 phosphorylation inhibitor, D-JNKI1, was able to inhibit over 50% of the apoptosis, suggesting a causal role for mitogen-activated protein kinase 8/9 phosphorylation in the shear stress-induced lethality. The E2.5 (compacted eight-cell/early morula stage) embryo was more sensitive to shear stress than the E3.5 (early blastocyst stage) embryo. Additionally, zona pellucida removal significantly accelerated shear stress-induced lethality while having no lethal effect on embryos in the static control. In conclusion, preimplantation embryos sense shear stress, chronic shear stress is lethal, and the zona pellucida lessens the lethal and sublethal effects of shear stress. Embryos in vivo would not experience as high a sustained velocity or shear stress as induced experimentally here. Lower shear stresses might induce sufficient mitogen-activated protein kinase 8/9 phosphorylation that would slow growth or cause premature differentiation if the zona pellucida were not intact.

Related URLs:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16571875

Detrimental effects of microgravity on mouse preimplantation development in vitro

by cfynanon 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

Sustaining life beyond Earth either on space stations or on other planets will require a clear understanding of how the space environment affects key phases of mammalian reproduction. However, because of the difficulty of doing such experiments in mammals, most studies of reproduction in space have been carried out with other taxa, such as sea urchins, fish, amphibians or birds. Here, we studied the possibility of mammalian fertilization and preimplantation development under microgravity (microG) conditions using a three-dimensional (3D) clinostat, which faithfully simulates 10(-3) G using 3D rotation. Fertilization occurred normally in vitro under microG. However, although we obtained 75 healthy offspring from microG-fertilized and -cultured embryos after transfer to recipient females, the birth rate was lower than among the 1G controls. Immunostaining demonstrated that in vitro culture under microG caused slower development and fewer trophectoderm cells than in 1G controls but did not affect polarization of the blastocyst. These results suggest for the first time that fertilization can occur normally under microG environment in a mammal, but normal preimplantation embryo development might require 1G.

Related URLs:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19707597

A Major Effect of Simulated Microgravity on Several Stages of Preimplantation Mouse Development is Lethality Associated With Elevated Phosphorylated SAPK/JNK

by cfynanon 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

We tested whether microgravity affects mouse development during a period when gravity cues chick and frog embryo development. A rotating vessel developed similar to 0.1% simulated microgravity (MGS) for embryos. Microgravity simulation resulted in blocked cell accumulation in E2.5 embryos. E1.5 and E3.5 embryos showed lesser effects. For E1.5/2.5 embryos, cell accumulation block was followed by lethality at 48 hours after MGS. For E3.5 embryos, MGS blocked development without lethality but with apoptosis. E1.5-3.5 embryos from the rotational control developed lesser effects than MGS embryos. Embryonic stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) was phosphorylated during MGS and mediated apoptosis. Increased pSAPK suggested that lethality is due to cellular stress induced by MGS, unlike the dysfunctional development after gravitational disorientation in frog and chick embryos. Thus, MGS causes lethality, a novel phenotype not often observed in microgravity or MGS. Embryonic lethality at E2.5 and apoptosis at E3.5 are associated with SAPK function, suggesting that MGS causes a general stress response that immediately affects many aspects of development. In addition, MGS and many aspects of In vitro fertilization/assisted reproductive technologies (IVF/ART) produce nonphysiological, nonevolutionary stresses that are mediated by SAPK, suggesting the primacy of this protein kinase in a wide range of mechanisms mediating negative reproductive outcomes in IVF/ART and potentially in spaceflight.

Related URLs:
<Go to ISI>://WOS:000270272600003

Simulation models of weightlessness in mammalian's developmental program

by cfynanon 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

Related URLs:
http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&CSC=Y&NEWS=N&PAGE=fulltext&D=med4&AN=11542319
http://sfxhosted.exlibrisgroup.com/mayo?sid=OVID:medline&id=pmid:11542319&id=doi:&issn=1077-9248&isbn=&volume=5&issue=1&spage=P127&pages=P127-8&date=1998&title=Journal+of+Gravitational+Physiology%3A+a+Journal+of+the+International+Society+for+Gravitational+Physiology&atitle=Simulation+models+of+weightlessness+in+mammalian%27s+developmental+program.&aulast=Serova&pid=%3Cauthor%3ESerova+LV%3C%2Fauthor%3E&%3CAN%3E11542319%3C%2FAN%3E

[Reproductive function of the male rat after a flight on the Kosmos-1129 biosatellite]

by cfynanon 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

Male rats that were flown for 18.5 days on Cosmos-1129 were mated postflight with intact females. The mating 5 days postflight when the ejaculate consisted of spermatozoids that were exposed to zero-g effects in the mature stage yielded the litter which lagged behind the controls with respect to the growth and development during the first postnatal month. The mating 2.5-3 months postflight when the ejaculate consisted of spermatozoids that were exposed to zero-g effects at the stem cell stage yielded the litter which did not differ from the control.

Related URLs:
http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&CSC=Y&NEWS=N&PAGE=fulltext&D=med2&AN=6890601
http://sfxhosted.exlibrisgroup.com/mayo?sid=OVID:medline&id=pmid:6890601&id=doi:&issn=0321-5040&isbn=&volume=16&issue=5&spage=62&pages=62-5&date=1982&title=Kosmicheskaia+Biologiia+i+Aviakosmicheskaia+Meditsina&atitle=Reproduktivnaia+funktsiia+krys-samtsov+posle+poleta+na+biosputnike+%22Kosmos-1129%22.&aulast=Serova&pid=%3Cauthor%3ESerova+LV%3C%2Fauthor%3E&%3CAN%3E6890601%3C%2FAN%3E

[Structure of the morphogenetic movements of gastrulation in Anura. I. Destabilization of ooplasmic segregation and cleavage under the action of clinostatic rotation]

by cfynanon 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

The yolk segregation in the developing Rana temporaria egg was studied both in vivo and under the effect of clinostate rotation, i. e. slow rotation around the horizontal axis imitating the state of weightlessness. From the moment of fertilization and during the whole period of cleavage the yolk was shown to subdivide succesively in distinct phases which differ by the characteristic value of yolk granules. During the normal development, in spite of the marked variability of form and mutual position of phases, the main elements of their animal-vegetative order are preserved. Under the effect of clinostate rotation the process of normal segregation becomes destabilized and variations in the egg structure are expressed by the beginning of gastrulation in the diversity of variants of distribution of the cellular material competent to different morphogenetic movements.

Related URLs:
http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&CSC=Y&NEWS=N&PAGE=fulltext&D=med1&AN=301622
http://sfxhosted.exlibrisgroup.com/mayo?sid=OVID:medline&id=pmid:301622&id=doi:&issn=0475-1450&isbn=&volume=8&issue=3&spage=238&pages=238-50&date=1977&title=Ontogenez&atitle=Struktura+morfogeneticheskikh+dvizhenii+gastruliatsii+u+beskhvostykh+amfibii.+Soobshchenie+I.+Destabilizatsiia+ooplazmaticheskoi+segregatsii+i+drobleniia+pod+deistviem+klinostatirovaniia.&aulast=Dorfman&pid=%3Cauthor%3EDorfman+IaG%3C%2Fauthor%3E&%3CAN%3E301622%3C%2FAN%3E

Studies on clonogenic hemopoietic cells of vertebrate in space: problems and perspectives

by cfynanon 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

Hemopoietic tissues were studied in vertebrates launched aboard the Soviet (Russian) biosatellites ("Cosmos-1129, 1514, 1667, 1887 and 2044"; "Bion-10 and 11") between 1980 and 1996. In the bone marrow of rats exposed to spaceflight conditions, a statistically significant decrease in cell number was revealed in the progenitor cell compartment accounting for the compensatory response of granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-gm) and erythrocyte lineages (BFU-e and CFU-e) and in the compartment of multipotent hemopoietic stem cells (CFU-s), which is responsible for the permanent renewal of hemopoietic tissue. The number of stromal fibroblastic progenitors (CFC-f) in the bone marrow of these rats was also reduced. Apparently, changes in the hemopoietic stroma damage the hemopoietic microenvironment and, hence, may be responsible for changes observed in the hemopoietic tissue proper. Attempts were made to develop methods for analyzing morphologically indiscernible clonogenic hemopoietic cells of newts, and studies on the effects of spaceflight factors on these cells were performed. The results showed that the numbers of clonogenic cells in newts of the flight group newts were significantly lower than in control newts. The data obtained are used as the basis for formulating the problems to be studied, drawing up a program for further research on the effects of spaceflight factors on stem and other clonogenic hemopoietic cells, and developing new experimental models for analyzing stem cells, the state of the hemopoietic stroma, etc. c2002 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Related URLs:
http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&CSC=Y&NEWS=N&PAGE=fulltext&D=med4&AN=12528730
http://sfxhosted.exlibrisgroup.com/mayo?sid=OVID:medline&id=pmid:12528730&id=doi:&issn=0273-1177&isbn=&volume=30&issue=4&spage=771&pages=771-6&date=2002&title=Advances+in+Space+Research&atitle=Studies+on+clonogenic+hemopoietic+cells+of+vertebrate+in+space%3A+problems+and+perspectives.&aulast=Domaratskaya&pid=%3Cauthor%3EDomaratskaya+EI%3C%2Fauthor%3E&%3CAN%3E12528730%3C%2FAN%3E

Nitric oxide affects preimplantation embryonic development in a rotating wall vessel bioreactor simulating microgravity

by cfynanon 9 June 2015in Biology & Biotechnology No comment

Microgravity was simulated with a rotating wall vessel bioreactor (RWVB) in order to study its effect on pre-implantation embryonic development in mice. Three experimental groups were used: stationary control, rotational control and clinostat rotation. Three experiments were performed as follows. The first experiment showed that compared with the other two (control) groups, embryonic development was significantly retarded after 72 h in the clinostat rotation group. The second experiment showed that more nitric oxide (NO) was produced in the culture medium in the clinostat rotation group after 72 h (P < 0.05), and the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in this group was significantly higher than in the controls (P < 0.01). In the third experiment, we studied apoptosis in the pre-implantation mouse embryos after 72 h in culture and found that Annexin-V staining was negative in the normal (stationary and rotational control) embryos, but the developmentally retarded (clinostat rotation) embryos showed a strong green fluorescence. These results indicate that microgravity induced developmental retardation and cell apoptosis in the mouse embryos. We presume that these effects are related to the higher concentration of NO in the embryos under microgravity, which have cause cytotoxic consequences. (c) 2006 International Federation for Cell Biology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Related URLs:
<Go to ISI>://WOS:000244297300004

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