The effect of laser-assisted hatching on the methylation and expression pattern of imprinted gene IGF2/H19 in mouse blastocysts and offspring

This study aimed to determine the effects of drilling and thinning treatment of laser-assisted hatching on the expression and methylation of imprinted gene IGF2/H19 in embryos and offspring.

The prehatching blastocysts with treatment of drilling or thinning, or control prehatching blastocysts, were transplanted in surrogate uteri. The DNA methylation of IGF2/H19 imprinting control region (ICR) and the expression of IGF2 and H19 were respectively evaluated using bisulfite conversion-mediated sequencing and real-time PCR.

The drilling group showed a significant increase in the development rate of hatched blastocysts in comparison with the control and thinning group. DNA methylation level of IGF2/H19 ICR of hatched blastocysts in the thinning group was 27.33% in comparison with the 38.67% and 36% observed in the control and drilling group. The thinning treatment increased the DNA methylation level of IGF2/H19 ICR in the placenta in comparison with the control and drilling group. The drilling and thinning treatment decreased the expression level of H19 mRNA in prehatching and hatched blastocysts as well as placenta, while a significant increase in the expression level of H19 mRNA of offspring was observed in the thinning group. The thinning treatment increased the expression level of IGF2 mRNA of prehatching blastocysts and offspring and a significant decrease in placenta, while the drilling treatment resulted in a significant increase in the expression level of IGF2 mRNA of hatched blastocysts and placenta.

These observations suggested that drilling used for hatching of in vitro cultured mouse blastocysts may improve the production of offspring.