Long-term effects of culture of preimplantation mouse embryos on behavior

doi:10.1073/pnas.0306846101

Long-term effects of culture of preimplantation mouse embryos on behavior

Departments of ^*Biology and ^¶Biostatistics and Epidemiology and ^‡Center for Research on Reproduction and Women's Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Edited by R. Michael Roberts, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (received for review October 22, 2003)

Abstract

Many procedures used in assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to treat human infertility entail culture of preimplantation embryos. Moreover, there is an increasing trend to culture embryos for longer periods of time before uterine transfer to identify the “best” embryos for transfer and to minimize multiple pregnancies. Embryo culture, however, can perturb embryo metabolism and gene expression, and the long-term consequences of culture are unknown. We have explored the behavioral consequences of embryo culture by using a 129S6/SvEvTac/C57BL/6J F₁ mouse model and find that adults derived from cultured embryos exhibit specific behavioral alterations in the elevated zero maze and Morris water maze tasks.

Footnotes

↵ ∥ To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 415 South University Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6018. E-mail: rschultz{at}sas.upenn.edu.
↵ † Present address: Department of Pharmacology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118.
↵ § Present address: Women's Health Research Institute, Wyeth Research, P.O. Box 8299, Philadelphia, PA 19101-8299.
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
Abbreviation: ART, assisted reproductive technologies.