title: Zuogui Wan rescues the high-glucose-induced damaging effects on early embryo development.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High concentration of glucose in culture medium affects the developmental process and the quality of the pre-implantation embryo. This study examined the effects of Zuogui Wan (ZGW) supplementation on early embryo development cultured in high-glucose medium.
  
  
  METHODS
  Embryos were cultured in high-glucose medium with or without ZGW supplementation. Developmental rate and competence was evaluated by cleavage rate, blastocyst rate, and blastocyst total cell number, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, glutathione (GSH) concentration, and metabolome were also measured to determine the effect of ZGW on embryo development at the cellular level.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with the vehicle group, supplementation of 0.01 % (v/v) ZGW to high-glucose medium significantly increased cleavage rate (80.1 ± 1.0 % vs 72.1 ± 1.3 %), blastocyst rate (50.5 ± 1.0 % vs 41.3 ± 1.7 %), and blastocyst total cell number (63.2 ± 2.2 vs 57.2 ± 1.6). ROS level was lower and GSH concentration in blastocysts was higher in ZGW-treated group. Metabolomic analysis found that the ratio of glucose to succinic acid and glucose to fumaric acid were lower in the ZGW-treated group .
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Developmental rates of zygotes in high-glucose culture medium were significantly lower than those in regular culture medium. ZGW supplementation significantly improved embryo development and quality in high-glucose medium. Supplementing ZGW in high-glucose medium also significantly increased total cell number and GSH concentration but decreased ROS level in blastocysts likely by modifying metabolic profile during embryo development. Together, these data suggest that supplementation of ZGW rescues high-glucose-induced detrimental effects on pre-implantation embryo development.
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100029, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Temaka
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taiyuan, 030024, People's Republic of China. fengqianjin@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Qianjin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of the Ministry of Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100029, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taiyuan, 030024, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yingli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taiyuan, 030024, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Kaixia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003470:Culture Media; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose; D055442:Metabolome / Q000187:drug effects; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; C552040:zuogui; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Blastocysts; Early embryo development; Zuogui Wan