Department of Clinical Embryology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
J Endocrinol. 2021 Feb;248(2):237-247. doi: 10.1530/JOE-20-0382.
Corticosteroids are increasingly being used during the peri-implantation period to treat women with repeated IVF failure and recurrent miscarriage. However, the direct effects of prednisolone (PRDL), one of the commonly used corticosteroids on early embryo development is not understood. To mimic the possible clinical scenario and to understand the embryonic response to direct PRDL exposure, this pilot study was conducted in a mouse model. Cleavage stage embryos exposed to 3 and 30 µM PRDL in vitro were assessed for peri-implantation developmental potential, genetic integrity, inner cell mass (ICM) proliferation and pluripotency markers in the proliferated ICM cells. Exposure to 30 µM PRDL delayed the embryonic progression beyond compaction (P < 0.05) in comparison to vehicle control and, had reduced total cell number (P < 0.001) than all other groups. In addition, 30 µM PRDL exposure resulted in poor hatching potential (P < 0.05) and increased apoptosis in blastocysts (P < 0.05) compared to 3 µM PRDL. On the other hand, completely formed ICM outgrowths were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in 3 µM PRDL compared to control. However, no significant differences were observed in the expression of pluripotency genes. In conclusion, the trend observed in embryos exposed to PRDL in vitro provides important information concerning the use of this drug when treating patients at the peri-implantation phase of IVF cycles. However, the clinical value of this observation on human embryo development needs further research.
皮质类固醇在体外受精（IVF）反复失败和反复流产的女性的着床期越来越多地被用于治疗。然而，泼尼松龙（PRDL）等常用皮质类固醇对早期胚胎发育的直接影响尚不清楚。为了模拟可能的临床情况并了解胚胎对直接 PRDL 暴露的反应，在小鼠模型中进行了这项初步研究。体外将 PRDL 浓度为 3 和 30µM 的胚胎暴露于 PRDL 中，评估其着床期发育潜能、遗传完整性、内细胞团（ICM）增殖和增殖 ICM 细胞中的多能性标记物。与载体对照组相比，30µM PRDL 暴露使胚胎发育在致密化后（P < 0.05）延迟，并且总细胞数减少（P < 0.001）。此外，与 3µM PRDL 相比，30µM PRDL 暴露导致囊胚孵化潜力降低（P < 0.05）和凋亡增加（P < 0.05）。另一方面，与对照组相比，3µM PRDL 中完全形成的 ICM 生长明显更高（P < 0.05）。然而，多能性基因的表达没有观察到显著差异。总之，体外 PRDL 暴露的胚胎中观察到的趋势为在 IVF 周期着床期治疗患者时使用该药物提供了重要信息。然而，这种对人类胚胎发育的观察的临床价值需要进一步研究。
