Expression profile of developmental competence gene markers in comparison with prostaglandin F synthesis and action in the early- and late-cleaved pre-implantation bovine embryos.

The kinetics of early cleavage stages can affect embryo quality. The bovine model of early- and late-cleaved embryos has been described in the literature and is deemed a useful tool in the field of oocyte developmental competence studies. The expression of genes demonstrating developmental potential differs between early- and late-cleaved embryos. Previously, we demonstrated that prostaglandin F synthase (PGFS) and prostaglandin F receptor (PTGFR) expression depend on the developmental stage and embryo quality. In the present study, we used the same model to determine the mRNA expression profile of developmentally important genes (IGF1R, IGF2R, PLAC8, OCT4, SOX2) in early, expanded and hatched blastocysts obtained from the early- and late-cleaved group of embryos, as well as to correlate the transcription levels of these embryonic gene markers with the transcription levels of PGFS and PTGFR. The mRNA expression of PGFS, PTGFR and factors described as gene markers of embryonic implantation ability and developmental competence genes was determined by real-time PCR. The obtained results were analysed using statistical software GraphPad prism 6.05. During the course of our analyses, we observed that the transcript abundance of most analysed genes tends to be higher in the late-rather than in the early cleaved group of embryos, as well as in B and/or C grade embryos rather than in A grade embryos. On the other hand, for the early cleaved group of blastocysts with cavity, we detected higher PLAC8 mRNA expression for grade A embryos compared with grade C embryos. It suggests that the mRNA expression level of genes depends on the quality of embryos but differs according to various factors including the method of production or culture method. Moreover, numerous correlations between analysed gene markers and PGF synthase and PGF receptor suggest that PGF plays a role in the crucial steps of bovine embryo development.