Skip Navigation



Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on June 25, 2008
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/den187
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF )
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
23/9/2080    most recent
den187v1
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fukuhara, R.
Right arrow Articles by Mizunuma, H.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fukuhara, R.
Right arrow Articles by Mizunuma, H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Erythrocytes counteract the negative effects of female ageing on mouse preimplantation embryo development and blastocyst formation

Rie Fukuhara1, Shunsaku Fujii, Rika Nakamura, Ei Yuzawa, Hidetaka Kimura, Atsushi Fukui and Hideki Mizunuma

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, 5 Zaifu-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8562, Japan

1 Correspondence address. E-mail: fukuhara{at}cc.hirosaki-u.ac.jp

BACKGROUND: The low developmental competence of embryos from ageing females remains an enigma; it is presumably attributable to oxidative stress. A number of antioxidant mechanisms exist in the erythrocyte and these have been investigated in other cells and tissues. However, very few studies have reported the effects of erythrocyte supplementation on developmental competence in ageing embryos.

METHODS: In Experiment 1, IVF embryos from young (7–10 weeks) mice were cultured in medium supplemented with an oxidizing agent, hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase, in the presence and absence of erythrocytes. In Experiment 2, the development of embryos derived from young and ageing (40–50 weeks) female mice was assessed in the presence and absence of erythrocytes.

RESULTS: In Experiment 1, the presence of hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase significantly inhibited embryo development (P < 0.0001). Erythrocyte supplementation clearly overcame the detrimental effects in a dose-related manner. In Experiment 2, in the absence of erythrocytes, developmental competence was significantly lower in embryos from ageing females than in those from young females (P < 0.01). However, in ageing females, the supplementation of erythrocytes significantly promoted the development of embryos to the blastocyst stage (51.1% versus 77.3%; P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: Supplementation with erythrocytes can counteract the negative effect of maternal ageing on embryo development and blastocyst formation.

Key words: ageing/antioxidant/embryo/erythrocyte/reactive oxygen species

Submitted on December 2, 2006; resubmitted on April 15, 2008; accepted on April 21, 2008.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.