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RESEARCH |
Faculty of Natural Sciences, Charles University, Vinicna 7, 128 44 Prague 2, Czech Republic and Institute of Animal Production, POB 1, CS-104 01 Prague 10, Czech Republic
Correspondence should be addressed to H Fulka at the Institute of Animal Production; Email: hell.f{at}seznam.cz
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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| Materials and Methods |
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Preparation of GV-karyoplasts and cytoplasts
Immature oocytes were isolated from large antral follicles of 28-day-old ICR mice (Anlab, Prague, Czech Republic) stimulated 44 h previously with 5 IU of equine chorionic gonadotropin. The animals were kept under standard conditions (22 °C, 60% relative humidity, lights on from 0700 h to 1900 h). All manipulations were performed at 37 °C in air unless otherwise stated. To prevent GV breakdown (GVBD), oocytes were manipulated in M2 medium supplemented with dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP) (150 µg/ml). Before enucleation, their zonae pellucidae were removed by pronase treatment (0.5% in PBS, 10 min) and oocytes were incubated in M2 containing cytochalasin D (5 µg/ml) and nocodazole (3 µg/ml) for 30 min. The oocytes were then enucleated exactly as described previously by Karnikova et al.(1998). Briefly, oocytes were first elongated in a very narrow pipette so that the GV was located at one end. Next, that part of the oocyte with GV surrounded by a minimum amount of cytoplasm and enclosed with the oocyte plasma membrane was cut off with a glass needle. Then both parts, GV-karyoplast and the cytoplast, were cultured in M199 containing dbcAMP (150 µg/ml), gentamicin (25 µg/ml), Na-pyruvate (0.2 mM) and BSA (4 mg/ml) in an atmosphere of 5% CO2 in air at 37 °C for 23 h before karyoplast labeling and fusion. Karyoplasts were incubated for 30 min at 37 °C in 5% CO2 in air in M199 supplemented with MitoTracker GreenFM (200 nM) (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR, USA) to label the mitochondria. Then karyoplasts were washed several times in M2 and agglutinated to immature cytoplasts in PBS containing phytohemagglutinin (PHA; 300 µg/ml). The close contact between both parts was achieved by pipetting. Thereafter, the agglutinated components were transferred into a polyethylene glycol solution (PEG; Mr 1000; 1 g/ml of M199) and incubated in it for 5055 s (Fulka et al. 1995). After an extensive washing in M2 the agglutinated components were cultured in M199 with dbcAMP for 30 min and thereafter transferred into M199 without dbcAMP to permit GVBD and oocyte maturation. Fusion products were periodically inspected (15, 30, 60 min, 3 h and 12 h) under the fluorescence microscope (FITC filter excitation 490 nm).
Oocyte-to-oocyte fusion
From our preliminary experiments it was evident that the speed of mitochondria distribution in reconstructed cells is cell cycle dependent. To study this in more detail the following zona-free oocyte x oocyte PEG-induced fusion combinations were devised: GV x GV (labeled) cultured for up to 12 h in M199 with dbcAMP; GV (labeled) x metaphase I (MI) fusion products were cultured for up to 12 h in M199 with dbcAMP; MI x MI (labeled) cultured for up to 12 h in M199 without dbcAMP.
The oocytes were isolated from large antral follicles as described above. When immature oocytes were used, the maturation was prevented by dbcAMP. Maturing oocytes were obtained after 6 h culture in M199 without dbcAMP. About 30 min before the induction of fusion, mitochondria in chosen oocytes were labeled as described above. Thereafter, zonae pellucidae were removed from all oocytes by pronase treatment. The close contact of oocytes in a given combination was achieved in PHA solution and oocytes were then fused exactly as described above. Again, fused oocytes were observed periodically as described above. In each combination we have evaluated more than 50 fused cells.
| Results |
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| Discussion |
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In our mouse model experiments we show that transferred mitochondria are uniformly distributed in reconstructed cells. It is, however, possible that the situation in human oocytes will be different, but in our opinion this probability is rather low. Moreover, if used in humans we can expect that oocytes with zonae pellucidae will be manipulated (Palermo et al. 2002). We have, however, not found a difference in the pattern of mitochondria distribution when zona intact oocytes were used (not shown). Another problem could be the amount of mitochondria transferred. In immature oocytes the mitochondria are preferentially accumulated around GVs and in the cortical region (Calarco 1995, Van Blerkom et al. 1998). As it is accepted that for the manifestation of certain diseases the amount of mutated mtDNA can be as low as 10%, this may represent a crucial problem (Wallace 1999). To avoid this, karyoplasts must contain a minimum amount of the surrounding cytoplasm. Another possibility is the use of specific mtDNA toxins, which will not damage nuclear DNA, or to expose karyoplasts to some oxidative agents such as H2O2. But in this case, there is a potential danger that damaged mitochondria will trigger apoptotic processes in the reconstructed cells (Liu et al. 2000a,b). Eventually, the centrifugation of oocytes may lead to the production of mitochondria-free GV-karyoplasts (Van Blerkom et al. 1998).
Our results also showed that the speed of mitochondria distribution is cell cycle dependent. Although this problem has a minimum of significance in our current experiments, it is potentially important in other nucleus replacement schemes, e.g. when the transfer of nuclei is carried out just before the cell cleaves. This may eventually result in two daughter cells, one of which will contain more transferred (and mutated) mitochondria than the other.
In our study, we concentrated on the distribution of mitochondria in reconstructed mammalian oocytes. However, with this approach, some other infertility problems might also be solved GV could be transferred into normal cytoplasm when the original cytoplasm lacks some essential molecules e.g. proteins, RNAs (Levran et al. 2002). It is, however, well known that the development of in vitro matured oocytes is rather compromised after fertilization (Moor et al. 1998). We did not evaluate the development of our reconstructed embryos. This problem could be solved by a sequential nucleus transfer (Liu et al. 2003).
In conclusion, our results show that distribution of mitochondria in reconstructed mouse immature oocytes is rather rapid and uniform, but there are some other issues which are not yet fully solved. The most important would be the heteroplasmy resulting from a mixture of karyoplast and cytoplast mitochondria (St. John 2002). Secondly, it is not known if karyoplast mitochondria would have a replication advantage, and would therefore again dominate in all or some tissues of the children so born. This may be solved eventually when mitochondria-free karyoplasts are produced. But even in this case we must realize that the cytoplasm and the nucleus do not function as two independent units and that many nuclear genes are involved in mitochondrial biogenesis (Zeviani et al. 2003). Lastly, it has been well documented in laboratory animals that the source of cytoplasm may influence the activity of certain imprinted genes (Hawes et al. 2002). It is not known whether the same is true for humans. There is a need for additional experiments in laboratory and domestic mammals to confirm the safety of nucleus replacement procedures in human assisted reproduction.
| Acknowledgements |
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| Footnotes |
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| References |
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