title: Baicalin increases developmental competence of mouse embryos in vitro by inhibiting cellular apoptosis and modulating HSP70 and DNMT expression.
abstract: Scutellaria baicalensis has been effectively used in Chinese traditional medicine to prevent miscarriages. However, little information is available on its mechanism of action. This study is designed specifically to reveal how baicalin, the main effective ingredient of S. baicalensis, improves developmental competence of embryos in vitro, using the mouse as a model. Mouse pronuclear embryos were cultured in KSOM medium supplemented with (0, 2, 4 and 8 μg/ml) baicalin. The results demonstrated that in vitro culture conditions significantly decreased the blastocyst developmental rate and blastocyst quality, possibly due to increased cellular stress and apoptosis. Baicalin (4 µg/ml) significantly increased 2- and 4-cell cleavage rates, morula developmental rate, and blastocyst developmental rate and cell number of in vitro-cultured mouse embryos. Moreover, baicalin increased the expression of Gja1, Cdh1, Bcl-2, and Dnmt3a genes, decreased the expression of Dnmt1 gene, and decreased cellular stress and apoptosis as it decreased the expression of HSP70, CASP3, and BAX and increased BCL-2 expression in blastocysts cultured in vitro. In conclusion, baicalin improves developmental competence of in vitro-cultured mouse embryos through inhibition of cellular apoptosis and HSP70 expression, and improvement of DNA methylation.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiaonan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: Huatao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cong
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhongling
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Rongfeng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Wenru
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D000076123:DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase 1; D004248:DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000187:drug effects; D046149:Embryo Culture Techniques; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000187:drug effects*; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice
chemical_list: D005419:Flavonoids; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; C038044:baicalin; D000076123:DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase 1; D004248:DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases; C000619381:Dnmt1 protein, mouse