Decreased growth factor expression through RNA interference inhibits development of mouse preimplantation embryos.

Mitogenic growth factors play an important role in cellular development and differentiation. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor alpha (TGFalpha) and their cognate receptor (EGFR) are crucial for normal preimplantation embryo development. We used RNA interference to decrease expression of growth factors in preimplantation mouse embryos. We microinjected 1-cell mouse embryos individually with short interfering RNA (siRNA) specific to EGF, TGFalpha, and EGFR and then analyzed temporal and spatial gene expression patterns at different stages of development before implantation. Transfection with siRNA significantly reduced growth factor expression in 1-cell, 2-cell, morula, early-blastocyst, and late-blastocyst embryos to levels similar to those in untreated 'cloned' embryos derived through intracytoplasmic nuclear injection. In addition, siRNA effectively decreased expression of maternally inherited genes between 24 and 72 h after transfection, with recovery of gene expression during late-blastocyst stage at 96 h after transfection. Furthermore, siRNA significantly decreased blastocyst formation, increased the number of apoptotic cells, and reduced the total number of differentiated cells in blastocysts; these changes were greatest after decreasing EGFR and of both EGF and TGFalpha simultaneously. These results support our hypothesis that EGF and TGFalpha are crucial for embryo survival and development. Further, dysregulated expression of growth factors is associated with poor development of cloned mouse embryos.

EGF and TGF-alpha supplementation enhances development of cloned mouse embryos.

In this study, we sought to determine the extent to which mitogenic growth factors affect the survival and development of cloned mouse embryos in vitro. Cloned embryos derived by intracytoplasmic nuclear injection (ICNI) of cumulus cell nuclei into enucleated oocytes were incubated in culture media supplemented with EGF and/or TGF-alpha for 4 days. Compared to control, treatment with either growth factor significantly increased the blastocyst formation rate, the total number of cells per blastocyst, the cell ratio of the inner cell mass and the trophectoderm (ICM:TE ratio), and EGF-R protein expression in cloned embryos. In most instances these effects were enhanced in cloned embryos when EGF and TGF-alpha were combined. Although fewer blastocysts developed from cloned than from fertilized one-cell stage embryos, growth factor treatment appeared to have the greatest effect on cloned embryos. These results demonstrate that mitogenic growth factors significantly enhance survival and promote the preimplantation development of cloned mouse embryos.

Development of mouse embryos after immunoneutralization of mitogenic growth factors mimics that of cloned embryos.

The extent to which mitogenic growth factors influence embryo development is not well characterized. We sought to determine the effect of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor alpha (TGFalpha) on naturally fertilized (in vivo-derived) and in vitro-fertilized mouse embryos, compared with that on cloned (intracytoplasmic nuclear injection-derived) mouse embryos, in which EGF and TGFalpha expression is markedly reduced. Immunoneutralization of EGF, TGFalpha, and EGF receptor by using specific antibodies significantly reduced the blastocyst development rate (in vivo-derived: 66%, 63%, and 63%, respectively; in vitro-fertilized: 57%, 55%, and 56%, respectively), increased the number of apoptotic nuclei (in vivo-derived: 9%, 10%, and 9%, respectively; in vitro-fertilized: 13%, 13%, and 13%, respectively), decreased the total number of cells (in vivo-derived: 87%, 85%, and 86%, respectively; in vitro-fertilized: 86%, 85%, and 86%, respectively), and increased the inner cell mass:trophectoderm ratios (in vivo-derived: 1:2.70 +/- 0.05, 1:2.73 +/- 0.04, 1:2.71 +/- 0.06, respectively; in vitro-fertilized: 1:2.94 +/- 0.02, 1:2.96 +/- 0.02, 1:2.95 +/- 0.02, respectively). In most cases, combined treatment with neutralizing antibodies to both EGF and TGFalpha accentuated changes in these parameters. Further, the effect of combined immunoneutralization on these parameters in fertilized embryos was no different from those in cloned embryos. Therefore, normal expression of mitogenic growth factors is crucial for successful development of mouse embryos before implantation. Inhibiting the action of mitogenic growth factors causes fertilized embryos to exhibit developmental characteristics similar to those of cloned embryos, which may partially explain the poor developmental potential of cloned mammalian embryos.