Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: The pre-implantation embryo has two distinct cell lineages at the blastocyst stage. An outer epithelial monolayer called trophectoderm and the non-polar inner cell mass. Tight junctions (TJ) form continuous intercellular contacts between neighbouring trophectoderm cells and are crucial in establishing a blastocoele cavity. TJs are composed of several transmembrane proteins including Claudins, a large family of proteins that play a central role in the formation of...

Introduction: Maternal low protein diet exclusively during preimplantation mouse development (Emb-LPD) induces compensatory changes in extra-embryonic lineages including primitive endoderm (PE) to enhance nutrient delivery during later gestation, for example, stimulation of endocytosis. Whilst such responses protect fetal growth, adult offspring exhibit increased cardiometabolic disease risk. Here, we investigate epigenetic mechanisms underlying maternal dietary programming, u...

The embryonic environment can induce permanent changes in metabolism and increase disease risk in adults. Rodent models show that modifications in maternal diet exclusively during pre-implantation development can induce metabolic disease in adults. Changes must therefore occur within the early embryo and be maintained throughout development. Determining adaptive mechanisms is challenging due to the size of the early embryo. We generated ES cells from inbred C57BL/6 mice as a m...