The maternal environment: influence on early mammalian development

胚胎发育的第一阶段对胎儿的存活和生长至关重要。在过去的40年里，在确定早期哺乳动物胚胎的培养条件方面取得了稳步进展。尽管取得了这一进展，目前的培养系统仍然是次优的，培养的胚胎在胚胎移植后的妊娠率降低，并且容易发生代谢和生长障碍。解决这些问题的办法是增加我们对外部环境如何影响早期发展的理解。本提案中的研究是一项长期研究的继续，该研究旨在了解母体和培养环境在调节早期哺乳动物发育中的作用。总体目标是研究CCN蛋白在早期胚胎发育过程中的作用。CCN蛋白是新发现的在调节细胞增殖、细胞死亡和细胞与细胞粘附中起重要作用的因子。它们被认为与称为整合素的细胞表面粘附分子相互作用。没有研究调查输卵管或植入前胚胎中CCN蛋白的表达。我们的初步数据表明，它们存在于输卵管和早期胚胎的表达，这支持了CCN/整合素介导的信号转导在调节最早的发育事件的可能性。正是由于这些原因，我们将集中我们的研究，以确定输卵管和胚胎CCN蛋白的表达和功能，在调节早期发育。这项研究将揭示有关早期发育调控的新信息。需要这些信息来了解环境介质对胚胎发育的影响，并揭示CCN在发育过程中的功能作用。

The first stages of embryonic development are the most critical for viability and growth of the fetus. Progress in defining culture conditions for early mammalian embryos has been steady over the past 40 years. Despite this progress current culture systems are still sub-optimal and cultured embryos have a reduced pregnancy rate following embryo transfer, and are prone to metabolic and growth disorders. The solution for these concerns is to increase our understanding of how the external environment influences early development. The research in this proposal is a continuation of a long-term study that is directed towards understanding the role of the maternal and culture environments in regulating early mammalian development. The overall objective is to investigate the roles of CCN proteins during early embryonic development. The CCN proteins are newly discovered factors that play important roles in regulating cell proliferation, cell death, and cell to cell adhesion. They are thought to interact with cell surface adhesion molecules called integrins. No studies have investigated the expression of CCN proteins within the oviduct or preimplantation embryo. Our preliminary data indicates their presence in the oviduct and expression by the early embryo which supports the likelihood of CCN/integrin mediated signaling in regulating the earliest developmental events. It is for these reasons that we will focus our studies on defining the expression and function of oviduct and embryonic CCN proteins in regulating early development. This research will uncover new information regarding the regulation of early development. This information is required to understand the effects of environmental mediators on embryonic development and to reveal the functional roles of the CCNs during development.