Glycoprotein 130 promotes human blastocyst development in vitro

To investigate the efficacy of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and/or glycoprotein 130 (gp130) on in vitro growth of human embryos.

Laboratory study.

University hospital-based IVF clinic.

A total of 164 frozen embryos that survived thawing were cultured in media supplemented with LIF and/or gp130 or control media.

Morphological development was evaluated by light microscopy. Protein expression profiles of single blastocysts were evaluated using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight-based intact cell mass spectrometry.

Embryo development and protein content.

Addition of gp130 to culture media improved blastocyst formation (73% vs. 43%). Addition of LIF to the culture media did not improve embryo development. Protein fingerprint spectra were obtained that revealed significant intensity changes for multiple molecular species including thymosin beta-10, thymosin beta-4, histone H2A, histone H2B, histone H4, ubiquitin, ubiquitin-T, and acyl-CoA binding protein.

Glycoprotein 130, but not LIF, seems to be beneficial for preimplantation embryo development, implicating a physiological role in regulating preimplantation development in humans and thus ought to be included in culture media designed for embryo culture to the blastocyst stage. Furthermore, these findings highlight the great potential of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry and intact cell mass spectrometry as a versatile tool in reproductive medicine research.