Intracellular cathepsin B activity is inversely correlated with the quality and developmental competence of bovine preimplantation embryos.
Mol Reprod Dev
; 77(12): 1031-9, 2010 Dec.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21104746
Recently, the activity of cathepsins B was found to be correlated inversely with the developmental competence of bovine oocytes. In this study, we investigated (1) the role of intracellular cathepsin B expression and developmental competence as well as the quality of bovine preimplantation embryos, and (2) the effect of cathepsin B inhibitor (E-64) during in vitro culture (IVC) on the development and quality of bovine embryos. After in vitro fertilization (IVF) followed by IVC for 7 days, good and poor quality embryos classified by morphology and developmental rate on days 2, 4, and 7 were assessed for cathepsin B expression and activity. To investigate the effect of cathepsin B inhibition on embryonic development, putative zygotes were cultured with or without E-64, followed by evaluation of cleavage and blastocyst rates on days 2 and 7, respectively. Embryonic quality was evaluated by both TUNEL staining and total cell number in day-7 blastocysts. In each developmental stage, cathepsin B expression and activity were significantly higher in poor quality embryos than good quality ones. Moreover, addition of E-64 during IVC significantly increased both the blastocyst rate and the total cell number. TUNEL staining revealed that inhibition of cathepsin B significantly decreased the number of apoptotic nuclei in day-7 blastocysts. These results indicate that cathepsin B activity can be useful as a marker for inferior quality embryos. Moreover, inhibition of cathepsin B greatly improves the developmental competence of preimplantation embryos and increases the number of good quality embryos.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Blastocisto
/
Catepsina B
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Mol Reprod Dev
Asunto de la revista:
BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR
/
MEDICINA REPRODUTIVA
Año:
2010
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Japón
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos