45 Embryonic disc development in vitro in ovine embryos

Abstract

Embryonic mortality during the second week of pregnancy has an important economic impact on farming. At this time, the embryo undergoes critical developmental events that cannot be recapitulated in vitro, limiting our understanding of these pregnancy losses. After the blastocyst stage, the hypoblast migrates to cover the inner surface of the embryo and the epiblast forms a flat embryonic disc (ED) that initiates gastrulation. The aim of this study was to develop an in vitro culture system to support sheep embryo development after the blastocyst stage. Day 6/7 in vitro-produced blastocysts were cultured over agarose gels to prevent attachment and allocated to different media: synthetic oviductal fluid with 10% fetal bovine serum (SOF-FBS, n = 52), an in vitro culture medium (hIVC, n = 35) supporting ED formation in human embryos (Deglincerti et al. 2016 Nature 533, 251-254; https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17948), and chemically defined N2B27 medium (n = 38) supporting ED formation in bovine embryos (Ramos-Ibeas et al. 2020 Reproduction 160, 579-589, https://doi.org/10.1530/REP-20-0243). At Day 14, survival and embryo area were recorded, the abundance of transcripts encoding interferon Tau (TP1) and metabolic enzymes was analysed by RT-qPCR, and the development of epiblast and hypoblast was assessed by immunostaining for SOX2 and SOX17. Embryo survival and size and the percentage of embryos achieving complete hypoblast migration were significantly reduced in SOF-FBS (Chi-squared test and one-way ANOVA; P < 0.05). Only N2B27 medium supported epiblast survival in 11/28 embryos. TP1 expression increased at Day 14 in all culture conditions and metabolism-related genes revealed a shift from anaerobic glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation after culture in hIVC and N2B27. Next, to promote epiblast development, we allocated blastocysts to N2B27 medium supplemented with activin A (n = 45), rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor (ROCKi, n = 42), or insulin growth factor 1 (IGF1, n = 29). IGF1 reduced significantly the percentage of embryos showing an ED-like structure, whereas activin A supplementation significantly increased epiblast survival (Chi-squared test; P < 0.05) and SOX2+ cell number was higher in embryos cultured with ROCK inhibitor. When we combined activin A and ROCKi supplementation (N2B27+A+R, n = 151), SOX2+ cell number and the percentage of embryos showing an ED-like structure increased significantly (165.1 ± 53.1 and 31/35 embryos with SOX2+ epiblast cells; ∼89%) compared with N2B27 alone (49.4 ± 12.7 and 5/11; ∼45%) (one-way ANOVA and Chi-squared test; P < 0.05). Moreover, 18/31 (∼58%) ED-like structures developed in N2B27+A+R lost the Rauber’s layer (polar trophoblast), and BRACHYURY expression, denoting the onset of gastrulation, was observed in 3/14. In conclusion, we have developed a culture system that supports complete hypoblast migration and ED development in vitro, which represents a valuable tool to explore early embryo mortality in livestock species without the need for experimental animals.