Characteristics of blastomere development derived from 8-cell mouse embryos

Abstract

In this study, we separated single blastomeres from 8-cell mouse embryos using micromanipulation system with XYClone laser, then cultured biopsied single blastomeres and 7- cell embryos together in the in vitro development (IVD) medium to the blastocyst stage. The purpose of this was to examine the developmental potencies of single blastomeres derived from 8- cell mice embryos including the morphological attributes, period of cell division and cell number. The results indicated that although with much smaller number of starting cells and size in comparison with biopsied 7-cell embryos and the control group, the single blastomeres derived from 8-cell mice embryos have the capabilities to generate more cells (approximately 6 ±0.41 cells) with the identical cellular events including the compaction, cavitation, morula, and blastocyst formation at the same developmental time with the control group and the group of 7-cell biopsied embryos. The results emphasized that such cellular events rely on the time of fertilization rather than the number of starting cells. These results will bring significant benefits for preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in assisted reproduction when it comes to prenatal test to detect abnormalities in ART-produced human embryos and open a novel approach in stem cell therapy commencing from the cells generated by the split single blastomeres in the future research.