Using a new experimental model for studying the hormonal induction of spermatogenesis, the hpg mouse, which has congenital functional gonadotropin deficiency due to a major deletion in the GnRH gene, we investigated the roles of testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in the initiation of spermatogenesis. Weanling homozygous hpg male mice were implanted subdermally with SILASTIC brand implants of varying lengths (0-2 cm) filled with T or DHT, using phenotypically normal (N/N or N/hpg) and untreated hpg/hpg mice as positive and negative controls. After 8 weeks, both T and DHT equally stimulated (approximately 14-fold) testis size and induced qualitatively complete spermatogenesis despite low intratesticular androgen levels and undetectable circulating FSH. Stereological quantitation of Sertoli and germ cells demonstrated a dose-dependent rise in the absolute numbers of all germ cell types induced by both T and DHT. At maximal androgen doses, germ cell numbers expressed per Sertoli cell and homogenization-resistant elongated spermatids expressed per mg testis were increased to more than 80% of non-hpg control values. An in vitro fertilization assay confirmed that both T and DHT induced quantitatively normal fertilizing capacity of the sperm in hpg males. We conclude that androgens, acting through the androgen receptor without need for aromatization, initiate qualitatively complete spermatogenesis in the mouse, including fertile sperm despite low intratesticular androgen levels and the absence of blood FSH levels. The hpg mouse model is a useful new paradigm to study the molecular basis of the hormonal induction of spermatogenesis.

Summary.: In mice, neither the bleeding time nor the clotting time of whole blood was different on Day 2 of pregnancy compared with pseudopregnancy. Standardization of the platelet concentration to 106/μl plasma resulted in a significant reduction in the clotting time of plasma from pregnant animals. This reduction was not due to an increase in the intrinsic or extrinsic pathways of the coagulation cascade but to enhanced platelet factor III activity, indicating increased platelet activation and consumption. Increased activation was not due to immunological recognition of the embryo because thrombocytopenia occurred after syngeneic and allogeneic matings of inbred strains of mice and also after parthenogenetic activation of ova in situ. Injection of embryo culture medium into splenectomized mice induced a significant dose-dependent thrombocytopenia. It occurred within 10 min after injection and persisted for up to 2 h. There was no reduction in platelet count when animals were injected with culture media in which unfertilized ova had been incubated. Early pregnancy-associated thrombocytopenia was caused by the production of platelet-activating factors by the fertilized eggs. The induction of thrombocytopenia by embryo culture media displayed a dose—response curve that was parallel to that of the platelet-activating factor, 1-0-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero(3)phosphocholine.

Embryo-derived paf (1-o-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-gylcero-3-phosphocholine) is produced by de novo synthesis. This synthesis commences soon after fertilization and persists throughout the preimplantation phase. Paf is produced and released by the embryos of all mammalian species studied to date. Its release from the embryo involves binding to extracellular albumin in a manner that protects paf from enzymatic degradation. Released paf causes a range of alterations in maternal physiology, including platelet activation, changes in oviductal, endometrial and maternal immune function. Paf also acts in an autocrine fashion as a trophic/survival factor for the early embryo. In vitro, supplementation of culture media with paf improves embryo development. Embryo-derived paf's autocrine actions are transduced by 1-o-phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase, which induces characteristic calcium transients within the early embryo. The calcium transients require both the influx of external calcium and release of inositol trisphosphate-dependent internal calcium stores. Buffering these transients compromised embryo development in a manner that was reversed by exogenous paf. Assisted reproductive technologies compromise the production of paf by some embryos and retard the expression of the paf receptor. This deprivation of paf's action is one of the factors limiting the survivability of embryos produced by assisted reproductive technologies. Paf is one of several autocrine and paracrine trophic/survival factors that act on the early embryo. These factors probably act cooperatively and may, to some degree, be mutually redundant. As the earliest-released and the best-described embryotrophin, paf provides an important exemplar for understanding the role of ligand-mediated trophic support of the early embryo.

Autocrine mediators released by the early embryo are implicated in the support of embryo development. Their mechanisms and timing of action, however, are uncertain. This study shows that their action is necessary during the 2-cell stage of development, at which time they do not act as classical growth factors, having no impact on the rate of cell-cycle progression. Rather, they act as survival factors, protecting embryos from subsequent cell death. Culture of zygotes for the first 48 h after insemination (but not the first 24 h only) at a high concentration of 1 embryo/microl before transfer to a concentration of 1 embryo/100 microl significantly improved development compared with culture at the lower concentration for 120 h. By contrast, if the initial 48 h of culture was at 1 embryo/100 microl, subsequent culture at 1 embryo/microl caused no improvement. Platelet-activating factor (PAF) supplementation (0.186 microM) of media for the 48-h period after insemination (but not 24 h only) improved the development of embryos cultured at low embryo concentrations (1 embryo/10 microl) even when transferred to PAF-free media for the subsequent 72-h culture period. The ability of PAF to mimic the effects of higher embryo density implicates embryo-derived PAF as one of the autocrine mediators stimulating early embryo development. The cell death that occurred at low embryo concentration had a mixed phenotype: some cells had lost membrane integrity whereas others had intact membranes but punctate or fragmented chromatin. It is concluded that the action of autocrine diffusible factors, including PAF, are necessary during the 2-cell stage for subsequent survival and normal development of embryos to the blastocyst stage.

Identification of the role(s) extracellular ligands play in regulating the development of the mammalian preimplantation embryo is a controversial area. Unequivocal evidence for their role is complicated by the apparent overlapping actions of multiple ligands. The discovery that the embryo also releases its own repertoire of ligands and expresses their corresponding receptors has further constrained analysis of their roles. Conventional ligand ablation strategies have limited utility when the cell responding to multiple ligands also produces them. The application of methods for identifying signal transduction events that occur in the early embryo in response to ligands has allowed direct assessment of the actions of these putative trophic ligands. A range of ligands induce phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase mediated survival signalling, and this is required for normal embryo development. Survival signalling maintains apoptotic pathways in a latent state within normal somatic cells, and they may fulfill the same role in the early embryo. Survival signals can also mitigate the adverse response of embryos to genotoxic and non-genotoxic stressors. Currently, there is no unequivocal evidence for a direct role of these ligands in the induction of mitosis in the early embryo. Embryotrophic ligands, acting via their specific receptors, to activate a network of effectors to create pro-survival, anti-apoptotic settings within the preimplantation embryo and these are required for normal embryo survival.

Restricting the growth of the embryo can cause adverse whole-of-life changes in an organism's homeostasis. Such adverse long-term consequences may occur even when growth restriction occurs only during the preimplantation period. The molecular basis for these long-term effects has not been defined, although an epigenetic mechanism is suspected. Some loci seem to be more sensitive to epigenetic perturbation than others, and the agouti viable yellow allele (A^vy) is the best studied example of this. It has active (hypomethylated) and inactive (hypermethylated) epialleles. This study used the A^vy model to show that growth restriction of preimplantation embryos, as provided by culture of zygotes, induced persistent epigenetic changes that resulted in altered postnatal phenotype. C57BL/6 A^vy/a males were mated to ovulation-induced FVB/N females, and then either zygotes were collected and cultured for 96 h and the resulting blastocysts were transferred to pseudopregnant recipient females, blastocysts were collected from females and transferred without embryo culture, or pregnancy was allowed to proceed after mating without intervention. Culture was in a commercial human in vitro fertilization media. The proportion of pups expressing the active (hypomethylated) epiallele and yellow coat was significantly higher following zygote culture compared to embryos that were transferred without culture (P = 0.014) or natural matings (P < 0.001). There was no difference in expression of the active epiallele in pups resulting from embryo transfer (without culture) compared to natural matings. These results show for the first time that the preimplantation embryo's growth environment can affect the postnatal expression of a defined epigenetically sensitive allele.