Project description:Clinical treatment protocols for infertility with in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) provide a unique opportunity to assess the human vaginal microbiome in defined hormonal milieu. Herein, we have investigated the association of circulating ovarian-derived estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) concentrations to the vaginal microbiome. Thirty IVF-ET patients were enrolled in this study, after informed consent. Blood was drawn at four time points during the IVF-ET procedure. In addition, if a pregnancy resulted, blood was drawn at 4-to-6 weeks of gestation. The serum concentrations of E2 and P4 were measured. Vaginal swabs were obtained in different hormonal milieu. Two independent genome-based technologies (and the second assayed in two different ways) were employed to identify the vaginal microbes. The vaginal microbiome underwent a transition with a decrease in E2 (and/or a decrease in P4). Novel bacteria were found in the vagina of 33% of the women undergoing IVF-ET. Our approach has enabled the discovery of novel, previously unidentified bacterial species in the human vagina in different hormonal milieu. While the relationship of hormone concentration and vaginal microbes was found to be complex, the data support a shift in the microbiome of the human vagina during IVF-ET therapy using standard protocols. The data also set the foundation for further studies examining correlations between IVF-ET outcome and the vaginal microbiome within a larger study population.
Project description:By comparing the difference in whole transcriptome of uterine fluid exosomes on embryo transfer day between pregnant and unpregnant groups during IVF cycles, novel biomarkers that may predict embryo implantation were identified. This prospective cohort study included78 cases with infertility who underwent routine in vitro fertilization(IVF) and fresh embryo transfer; they were divided into pregnant group and unpregnant group.
Project description:By comparing the difference in whole transcriptome of uterine fluid exosomes on embryo transfer day between pregnant and unpregnant groups during IVF cycles, novel biomarkers that may predict embryo implantation were identified. This prospective cohort study included78 cases with infertility who underwent routine in vitro fertilization(IVF) and fresh embryo transfer; they were divided into pregnant group and unpregnant group.
Project description:The Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation 450k Beadchip was employed to study the impact of in-vitro fertilization on DNA methylation in peripheral blood of infants. Using a total of 137 Michigan newborns born through IVF using fresh embryo transfer, IVF using cryopreserved embryo transfer, Intrauterine Insemination, or unassisted conception, DNA from archived Guthrie cards was assayed for methylation profiles.
Project description:Premature progesterone (P) rise during GnRH antagonist cycles for IVF is a frequent phenomenon and has been associated with lower pregnancy and implantation rates. Different thresholds of progesterone have been used so far to define its premature rise during the follicular phase of an IVF stimulated cycle. In this study, we evaluated endometrial gene expression on the day of oocyte retrieval according to the level of serum progesterone on the day of hCG administration in GnRH antagonist cycles.Endometrial biopsies from eleven patients were taken with a Pipelle de Cornier (Prodimed, Neuilly-en-Thelle, France) on the day of oocyte retrieval in a GnRH antagonist/rec-FSH stimulated IVF cycle with fresh embryo transfer. Biopsies were analysed for gene expression with Affymetrix Human Genome (HG) U133 Plus 2.0 Arrays and GCOS software (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA, USA). Patients were divided into three different groups according to their progesterone serum concentration on the day of hCG administration (A) P <= 0.9 ng/mL, (B) 1 < P < 1.5 ng/mL, and (C) P > 1.5 ng/mL. Serum P was measured with the automated Elecsys immunoanalyser (Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany). Selected differentially expressed genes were validated with quantitative real-time PCR (QPCR) with TaqMan Gene Expression Assays (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). Keywords: gene expression analysis, premature progesterone rise Endometrial biopsies from fourteen patients were taken on the day of oocyte retrieval in a GnRH/rec-FSH stimulated IVF cycle with fresh embryo transfer and analyzed with microarrays. Patients were divided into three groups according to their progesterone serum concentration on day of hCG: A <=0.9ng/ml; B 1-1.5 ng/ml; C > 1.5ng/ml
Project description:Implantation is crucial for placental development which directly impacts fetal growth and pregnancy success with possible consequences on post-natal health. We postulated that early perturbations of the conceptus-maternal environment communication may alter the endometrium physiology that could account for the final reproductive outcome. Using cattle as an animal model, we compared gene expression profiles of the endometrial caruncular and intercaruncular areas during the critical period of implantation in three types of pregnancies: artificial insemination (AI), in vitro fertilization with embryo transfer (IVF-ET) or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Less than 35% of the differentially expressed genes were found to be common between AI, IVF-ET, and SCNT conditions. Compared to AI, numerous biological functions and several canonical pathways and genes were found to be significantly affected in IVF-ET or SCNT, with a major impact on metabolism and immune function in SCNT. Our data show that the endometrium can fine-tune its physiology and could be considered as a biological sensor in response to pregnancy manipulations. Determining the limits of the endometrial plasticity should bring new insights on the contribution of the maternal compartment to the pregnancy outlet. Keywords: Fluorescence Microarray - Dye switch loop design 44 samples
Project description:Implantation is crucial for placental development whose quality will directly impact fetal growth and pregnancy success with possible consequences on post-natal health. We postulated that early perturbations of the conceptus-maternal environment communication may alter the endometrium physiology that could account for the final reproductive outcome. Using cattle as an animal model, we compared gene expression profiles of the endometrial caruncular and intercaruncular areas at implantation in three types of pregnancies, namely artificial insemination (AI), in vitro fertilization with embryo transfer (IVF-ET) or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Less than 35% of the differentially regulated genes were found to be common between AI, IVF-ET, and SCNT conditions. Compared to AI, numerous biological functions and several canonical pathways and genes were found to be significantly affected in IVF-ET or SCNT, with a major impact on metabolism and immune function in SCNT. Our data show that endometrium can fine-tune its physiology and could be considered as a biological sensor in response to pregnancy manipulations. Determining the limits of the endometrial plasticity should bring new insights on the contribution of the maternal compartment to the issue of pregnancy. Keywords: Fluorescence Microarray 30 samples
Project description:Implantation is crucial for placental development which directly impacts fetal growth and pregnancy success with possible consequences on post-natal health. We postulated that early perturbations of the conceptus-maternal environment communication may alter the endometrium physiology that could account for the final reproductive outcome. Using cattle as an animal model, we compared gene expression profiles of the endometrial caruncular and intercaruncular areas during the critical period of implantation in three types of pregnancies: artificial insemination (AI), in vitro fertilization with embryo transfer (IVF-ET) or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Less than 35% of the differentially expressed genes were found to be common between AI, IVF-ET, and SCNT conditions. Compared to AI, numerous biological functions and several canonical pathways and genes were found to be significantly affected in IVF-ET or SCNT, with a major impact on metabolism and immune function in SCNT. Our data show that the endometrium can fine-tune its physiology and could be considered as a biological sensor in response to pregnancy manipulations. Determining the limits of the endometrial plasticity should bring new insights on the contribution of the maternal compartment to the pregnancy outlet. Keywords: Fluorescence Microarray - Dye switch loop design
Project description:Although somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) cloning is more efficient in bovine than in all other species tested so far, there is a high rate of pregnancy failure that has been linked to structural and functional abnormalities of the placenta. We tested the hypothesis that these changes may originate from disturbed embryo-maternal interactions in the pre-implantation period. Therefore, we evaluated the transcriptome response of the endometrium to SCNT embryos (produced from five different donor cell cultures) as compared to embryos derived from in vitro fertilization (IVF). SCNT embryos and IVF embryos were cultured under identical conditions to the blastocyst stage (Day 8) and transferred to recipients. The recipients were slaughtered at day 18 of pregnancy and the uterus was recovered. Pregnancy was verified by the presence of at least one normally developed embryo. Transcriptome profiling of endometrium samples using a custom cDNA microarray covering transcripts expressed in the endometrium and/or oviduct epithelium revealed 58 transcripts that were differently abundant between endometrium samples from SCNT vs. IVF pregnancies. Prominent examples are NR2F2 (encoding the orphan nuclear receptor COUP-TFII) and GJA1 (encoding connexin 43). Both transcripts are known to play important roles in placentation and were significantly less abundant in endometrium from SCNT vs. IVF pregnancies. These findings suggest that placental failure in bovine clone pregnancies may originate from abnormal embryo-maternal communication already in the pre- or peri-implantation period. Endometrium transcriptome profiles may serve as a novel readout to evaluate SCNT embryos for their ability to induce pregnancy with a functional placenta. Keywords: response to different embryos Nineteen German Fleckvieh (Simmental) heifers were slaughtered at day 18 of pregnancy. Cycle-synchronized recipient heifers received either IVP or SCNT embryos at day 7 of the estrous cycle. Animals were slaughtered at day 18. Endometrial (intercaruncular) tissue samples were obtained from 10 pregnant animals after transfer of IVP embryos and from 9 pregnant animals after transfer of SCNT embryos.
Project description:Implantation is crucial for placental development whose quality will directly impact fetal growth and pregnancy success with possible consequences on post-natal health. We postulated that early perturbations of the conceptus-maternal environment communication may alter the endometrium physiology that could account for the final reproductive outcome. Using cattle as an animal model, we compared gene expression profiles of the endometrial caruncular and intercaruncular areas at implantation in three types of pregnancies, namely artificial insemination (AI), in vitro fertilization with embryo transfer (IVF-ET) or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Less than 35% of the differentially regulated genes were found to be common between AI, IVF-ET, and SCNT conditions. Compared to AI, numerous biological functions and several canonical pathways and genes were found to be significantly affected in IVF-ET or SCNT, with a major impact on metabolism and immune function in SCNT. Our data show that endometrium can fine-tune its physiology and could be considered as a biological sensor in response to pregnancy manipulations. Determining the limits of the endometrial plasticity should bring new insights on the contribution of the maternal compartment to the issue of pregnancy. Keywords: Fluorescence Microarray