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- Title
Microarray evidence that 8-cell human embryos express some hormone family members including oxytocin.
- Authors
Harris, Amy Lee; Dinopoulou, Vasiliki; Loutradis, Dimitris; Drakakis, Peter; Kiessling, Ann A.
- Abstract
Objective: This study is to discover hormone pathways active in early cleaving human embryos. Methods: A list of 152 hormones and receptors were compiled to query the microarray database of mRNAs in 8-cell human embryos, two lines of human embryonic stem cells plus human fibroblasts before and after induced pluripotency. Results: Over half of the 152 hormones and receptors were silent on the arrays of all cell types, and more were detected at high or moderate levels on the 8-cell arrays than on the pluripotent cell or fibroblast arrays. Eight hormone family genes were uniquely detected at least 22-fold higher on the 8-cell arrays than the stem cell arrays: AVPI1, CCK, CORT, FSTL4, GIP, GPHA2, OXT, and PPY suggesting novel roles for these proteins in early development. Oxytocin was detected by pilot immunoassay in culture media collected from Day 3 embryos. Robust detection of CRHR1 and EPOR suggests the 8-cell embryo may be responsive to maternal CRH and EPO. The over-expression of POMC and GHITM suggests POMP peptide products may have undiscovered roles in early development and GHITM may contribute to mitochondrial remodeling. Under-detected on the 8-cell arrays at least tenfold were two key enzymes in steroid biosynthesis, DHCR24 and FDPS. Conclusions: The 8-cell human embryo may be secreting oxytocin, which could stimulate its own progress down the fallopian tube as well as play a role in early neural precursor development. The 8-cell embryo does not synthesize reproductive steroid hormones. As previously reported for growth factor families, the early embryo over-expresses more hormones than hormone receptors.
- Subjects
HUMAN embryos; HUMAN embryonic stem cells; HUMAN embryology; HORMONE receptors; OXYTOCIN; PEPTIDES
- Publication
Journal of Assisted Reproduction & Genetics, 2024, Vol 41, Issue 2, p323
- ISSN
1058-0468
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10815-023-03002-8