Project 3:

Co-culture experiments for the characterisation of early embryo-maternal interaction and their disturbances after in-vitro fertilization

Marc Boelhauve, Karina Zitta, Stefan Hiendleder

In the first funding period we established oviduct and endometrium cell culture system as a basis for a systematic analysis of early embryo-maternal communication. First hints of early embryo-maternal interactions were found after transcriptome analysis of co-cultured preimplantation bovine embryos (4-16 cell) and oviduct cells. In addition protocols for the IVF of bovine embryos were identified which causes epigenetic disturbances. Furthermore these protocols resulted in embryos with different developmental capacity.

The work program includes:

• Verification of candidate genes in the oviduct under modified co-culture conditions.

• Co-culture experiments with endometrium cells and ex vivo embryos (morula or blastocyst stage) and subsequent transcriptome and proteome analysis.

• Comparative studies of co-cultured endometrium cells and embryos originating from different IVF-protocols to identify genes relevant for reduced pregnancy rates of IVF-embryos.

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