Effects of slow freezing procedure on late blastocyst gene expression and survival rate in rabbit

Studies of embryo cryopreservation efficiency have focused mainly on technical and embryo factors. To determine how a slow freezing process affects embryo and fetal development, we studied in vivo development ability after the freezing procedure by assessing blastocyst development at Day 6, implantation, and birth rates. A transcriptional microarray study was also performed to compare gene expression of 6-day-old rabbit embryos previously frozen and transferred into recipient rabbit females to their in vivo counterparts. Our goal was to study which alteration caused by the freezing procedure still remained in late blastocyst stage just at the time when the implantation process began. A microarray specifically designed to study rabbit gene expression profiling was used in this study. Lower implantation and birth rates were obtained in frozen embryos than in the control group (29.9% and 25.7% vs 88.5% and 70.8% for frozen and control embryos, respectively). Likewise, differences were also observed in gene expression profiles. Compared to 6-day-old in vivo-derived embryos, viable frozen embryos presented 70 differentially expressed genes, 24 upregulated and 46 downregulated. In conclusion, our findings showed that the slow freezing process affected late blastocyst development, implantation, and birth rates and that the gene expression alterations identified at late blastocyst stage could be useful in understanding the differences in developmental potential observed and the deficiencies that might hinder implantation and fetal development.