Studies on mitochondrial activity in rat preimplantation embryos

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K15702
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 42040:Laboratory animal science-related
• Research Institution: Tottori University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMURA Kazuomi 鳥取大学, 医学部, 特命助教 (90598137)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: ラット着床前胚 / アポトーシス / Bax / 体外培養

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Focusing on genes that promote mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (Bax, Bak1), the expression of these genes in in vitro cultured and in vivo developed rat embryos was compared by qPCR analysis. The results showed that both genes were significantly up-regulated in rat embryos cultured in vitro. Furthermore, DNA fragmentation was assessed in rat embryos in which these genes were disrupted by genome editing technique. Disruption of Bax suppressed DNA fragmentation induced by in vitro culture, but Bak1 did not. This revealed that Bax-dependent mitochondrial apoptosis pathway was activated in rat preimplantation embryos cultured in vitro.

Free Research Field

発生工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

体外培養したラット着床前胚においては、Baxの高発現がアポトーシスを誘導し、著しいDNAの断片化が起こることがわかった。今後は、Baxの高発現を誘導しているさらに上流の要因を探ることが重要である。これを解明することができれば、体外培養してもその後の発生が阻害されることのない新たな培養法の確立へ繋がり、さらには遺伝子組換えラットの作製効率の向上によって、医学・生命科学研究の発展に寄与する。