title: Long-term and transgenerational effects of in vitro culture on mouse embryos.
abstract: The mouse is a convenient model to analyze the impact of in vitro culture (IVC) on the long-term health and physiology of the offspring, and the possible inheritance of these altered phenotypes. The preimplantation period of mammalian development has been identified as an early 'developmental window' during which environmental conditions may influence the pattern of future growth and physiology. Suboptimal culture media can cause severe alterations in mRNA expression in the embryo, which are associated with embryo quality reduction. In addition, the embryonic epigenetic reprogramming may also be severely affected by IVC, modifying epigenetic marks particularly in imprinted genes and epigenetically sensitive alleles. These altered epigenetic marks can persist after birth, resulting in adult health problems such as obesity, increased anxiety and memory deficits. Furthermore, some epigenetic modifications have been found to be transmitted to the offspring (epigenetic transgenerational inheritance), thereby providing a suitable model to asses risks of cross-generational effects of perturbing early embryo development. This review will highlight how preimplantation environment changes can not only affect developmental processes taking place at that time, but can also have an impact further, affecting offspring health and physiology; and how they may be transmitted to the next generation. We will also analyze the emerging role of epigenetics as a mechanistic link between the early environment and the later phenotype of the developing organism.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Reproducción Animal y Conservación de Recursos Zoogenéticos, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calle
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Gonzalez
authors.forename: Priscila
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ramos-Ibeas
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laguna-Barraza
authors.forename: Serafin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Perez-Cerezales
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bermejo-Alvarez
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gutierrez-Adan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology; D003470:Culture Media; D046149:Embryo Culture Techniques; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000502:physiology*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D051379:Mice; D010641:Phenotype; D010920:Placenta / Q000502:physiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D012333:RNA, Messenger