The endometrium is a highly dynamic tissue empowered with the capacity to undergo cyclic dramatic changes in response to ovarian steroid hormones, ultimately aiming to create a window of receptivity for blastocyst implantation. Intensive research has been performed to understand and establish morphological and molecular correlates of embryo implantation. However, it still remains a biological m...

First revealed in cancer studies, HURP (hepatoma up-regulated protein) is a cell cycle-associated gene with elevated expression in the G(2)/M phase. Cell culture studies have revealed that HURP is an essential factor required for spindle formation and chromosome congression during mitosis. However, the function of HURP in an in vivo context has not been explored. We generated a Hurp knock-out (...

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is an established alternative to prenatal testing for couples at risk of transmitting genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis (CF).PGD screens pre-implantation embryos, allowing the safe transfer of those identified as unaffected. Awareness of CF carrier status in Ireland is increasing following the introduction of neonatal screening in 2011. PGD is th...

1. The activity of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase was determined in mouse embryos during the first 5 days of development from the time of ovulation up to implantation. 2. The activity decreased from 1.39 to 0.19mmumoles of NADP reduced/hr./embryo from ovulation to implantation. 3. The specific activity of the embryo on the first day was higher than specific activities reported for most other...

Cell differentiation during pre-implantation mammalian development involves the formation of two extra-embryonic lineages: trophoblast and primitive endoderm (PrE). A subset of cells within the inner cell mass (ICM) of the blastocyst does not respond to differentiation signals and forms the pluripotent epiblast, which gives rise to all of the tissues in the adult body. How this group of cells i...

BACKGROUND Pre-implantation development is a crucial step in successful implantation and pregnancy in mammals. It has been studied in depth, but mostly in laboratory animal models. Less is known about the regulatory mechanism involved in the pre-implantation development in humans and about the comparative aspects. METHODS Here, we employed the microarray datasets from the public database libr...

The implantation of embryo depends on the quality of the embryo and the receptivity of the endometrium. While the factors affecting embryo quality were optimized, the implantation rates did not reach the desirable levels. This directs the blaming for endometrial receptivity which already has been affected by supra-physiological levels of hormone, namely estradiol, in controlled ovarian hypersti...

Background: M-CSF is a cytokine mediating the growth, proliferation and differentiation of various cell types including macrophages, trophoblast cells, and osteoclasts. It plays an important role in immunity reproduction, follicle development and ovulation. In the present study, we describe the important role of the changes in serum M-CSF levels during the menstrual cycle, in the process of fol...

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is essential for embryo implantation in mice and plays an important role in other mammals including humans. Intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections with anti-LIF antibody (7.5 µg/g body weight, 3 times) between D3 (D1 = day of vaginal plug detection) and D4 effectively blocked embryo implantation; complete inhibition was achieved in C57BL/6J mice, and implantation was...

Single-cell profiling techniques create opportunities to delineate cell fate progression in mammalian development. Recent studies have provided transcriptome data from human pre-implantation embryos, in total comprising nearly 2000 individual cells. Interpretation of these data is confounded by biological factors, such as variable embryo staging and cell-type ambiguity, as well as technical cha...