The Effects of Vero Cell Co-culture on the Expression of Bax and Bcl-2 Genes in the Mouse Embryo Development / 대한산부인과학회지

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Vero cell co-culture on the development of mouse embryo in vitro and the expression of bax and bcl-2 genes in the mouse embryo. METHODS: The 2-cell mouse embryos were obtained from oviduct of 5-6 weeks old mated female ICR mice superovulated with pregnant mare's serum gonadotropin (PMSG) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). The 2-cell embryos in Ham's F-10 medium supplemented with 10% FBS with or without Vero cells, were incubated at 37 degrees C in a 5% CO2 humidified air chamber respectively and we observed mouse embryo development and collected each group of embryos for the purpose of extraction of total RNA every 24 hours for 3 days. We carried out the RT-PCR to assess mRNA levels for bax and bcl-2 gene. RESULTS: The rate of embryo development of with Vero cell co-cultured group was 78.3%, 50.7%, 27.2% and that of without Vero cell co- cultured group was 60.5%, 29.3%, 20.7% respectively. Bax mRNA expression level of without Vero cell co-cultured group was significantly higher than that of with Vero cell co-cultured group at 24 hours. Bcl-2 mRNA expression level of Vero cell co-cultured group was significantly higher than that of without Vero cell co-cultured group at 72 hours. CONCLUSION: These findings suggested that Vero cell co-culture is beneficial in the development of mouse embryos and stimulates bax and bcl-2 gene expression.