Molecular Human Reproduction, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 23-32, 2004
© European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology 2004
Alterations in mitochondrial membrane potential during preimplantation stages of mouse and human embryo development
1Department of Physiology and Division of Reproductive Sciences, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Toronto, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto and 2Departments of Computer Science and Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Division of Cancer Informatics, Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Room 876, Mount Sinai Hospital, 600 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5G 1X5, Canada. e-mail: rfcasper{at}aol.com
Mitochondria are cellular organelles regulating metabolism and cell death pathways. This study examined changes in mitochondrial membrane potential (
m) throughout the stages of preimplantation development in mouse embryos conceived either in vivo or in vitro and human embryos donated to research from IVF. Embryos stained with the m-sensitive dye (JC-1) were quantified for the ratio of high- to low-polarized mitochondria using a deconvolution microscope. Overall, mouse zygotes and early embryos contain a subset of high-polarized mitochondria with a progressive increase in the ratio of m observed with increasing cleavage. A transient increase in the ratio of high to low m was observed in in vivo fertilized 2-cell stage embryos, coincident with embryonic genome activation in the mouse, but not in 2-cell embryos obtained through IVF. We further observed that arrested mouse 2-cell embryos possessed an increased ratio of m compared with non-arrested embryos. In human 8-cell embryos we observed an increased ratio of high- to low-polarized mitochondria with increasing degrees of embryo fragmentation. We concluded that the pattern of mitochondrial membrane potential progressively changes throughout preimplantation development, and that an aberrant shift in m could contribute to, or is associated with, decreased developmental potential.
Key words: Key words: embryo/fragmentation/IVF/mitochondria/mitochondrial membrane potential
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