Background: Since the sheep ‘Dolly’ was successfully cloned by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), the inefficiency of SCNT cloning and abnormality of cloned animals have been a focus of considerable controversy. Oocyte quality has been shown to contribute to poor somatic cloning and cell reprogramming efficiency with many factors affecting oocyte quality and developmental potential. It has b...

The preimplantation development of the mammalian embryo encompasses a series of critical events: the transition from oocyte to embryo, the first cell divisions, the establishment of cellular contacts, the first lineage differentiation-all the first subtle steps toward a future body plan. Here, we use microarrays to explore gene activity during preimplantation development. We reveal robust and d...

Mouse embryo culture has been established and applied in the study of the causal mechanisms of abnormal development. Mouse embryo culture can be used as an experimental system to examine the influence of teratogen on early development, together with investigations using developmental engineering such as chimera, transgenic mice and nuclear transfer. We combined mouse embryo culture with embryo ...

Fertilization of the female gametophyte in angiosperm plants initiates a process of coordinated development of embryo, endosperm, and seed coat that ensures the production of a viable seed. Mutant analysis has suggested that communication between the endosperm and the seed coat is an important determinant in this process. In addition, cell groups within the embryo, derived from the apical and f...

Previous studies indicate that organ fibroblasts play an important role in wound healing, collagen production, remodeling processes and pathogenesis of progressive heart, lung, renal and hepatic fibrotic diseases. Several studies suggest a possible inhibitory role for adenosine in the regulation of fibroblast proliferation. The effect of adenosine A2 agonists on proliferation and differentiatio...

Cellular polarity is a general feature of animal development. However, the mechanisms that establish and maintain polarity in a field of cells or even in the whole embryo remain elusive. Here we provide evidence that in the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo, the descendants of P1, the posterior blastomere of the 2-cell stage, constitute a polarising centre that orients the cell divisions of most of...

Increasing infertility is one of the most serious health problems today. Over past few years, we have had opportunity to follow progress technologies focused on production embryos in vitro (i.e., fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection, genetic engineering, or somatic cell nuclear transfer. Oocyte maturation important processes vitro. Despite recent this field, developmental competen...