SIMULTANEOUS DETECTION OF MULTIPLE GENE-EXPRESSION IN MOUSE AND HUMANINDIVIDUAL PREIMPLANTATION EMBRYOS

Objective: To detect simultaneously multiple gene expression in mouse and human individual embryos by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Design: Transcripts involved in the insulin-like growth fac tor (IGF) system were detected in mouse and human preimplantation embr yos. Setting: An academic teaching hospital. Main Outcome Measure(s): Transcripts of the IGF family genes. Result(s): In the mouse, genes ar e expressed differentially and messenger RNA transcripts of maternal o rigin in nonfertilized ova decline gradually until the initiation of t he embryonic genome transcription. Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-2 (IGFBP)-2, -3, -4, and beta-actin transcripts appear to be i nitiated at the two- to four-cell stage, whereas IGFBP-1, -5, and -6 t ranscripts are initiated at later stages. Transcription, once initiate d, appears to continue through to the blastocyst stage. In humans, alm ost all genes of the IGF system were expressed in preimplantation embr yos. This is the first report of the assessment of IGF family transcri pts in individual embryos, and introduces a novel method for research and clinical diagnosis of preimplantation embryos. (C) 1997 by America n Society for Reproductive Medicine.