Molecular Human Reproduction, Vol. 8, No. 10, 919-922,
October 2002
© 2002 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Embryology |
Increased expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27 in cleavage-stage human embryos exhibiting developmental arrest
1 Institut Clinic of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology and 2 Departament de Biologia Cellular i Anatomia Patològica, Hospital Clínic-Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi y Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
It is accepted that 
50% of embryos obtained after IVF arrest during the first week. Traditionally, chromosome abnormality and suboptimal culture conditions have been proposed as factors commonly associated with embryo arrest. However, even when considering ‘ideal’ conditions and embryos of only excellent morphology in vitro, there is still a significant incidence of embryonic arrest. There is considerable evidence that the nuclear protein p27, a member of the Cip/Kip family of CDK inhibitors, plays an important role in multiple fundamental cellular processes, including cell proliferation, cell differentiation, and apoptosis. The present investigation, using immunocytochemical techniques coupled with confocal microscopy, was undertaken to determine whether p27 could play a role in the arrest of 4–8-cell human embryos. A total of 28 preimplantation embryos at the 4–8-cell stage were investigated. Of these, 16 were diploid embryos showing cleavage arrest with no further progression, and 12 were normally developing embryos. There was a 2-fold increased expression of the cell-cycle inhibitor p27 in arrested embryos compared with control normally developing embryos. This study represents the first demonstration of an increased expression of p27 in cleavage-stage human arrested embryos.
arrested embryo/CDK inhibitors/embryo growth/IVF/p27
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Institut Clínic of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Hospital Clínic, C/Casanova 143, 08036-Barcelona, Spain. E-mail: jbalasch{at}medicina.ub.es
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