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Updated: Sep 3, 2026
Derivation of Mouse Trophoblast Stem Cells from Blastocysts
Published on: June 8, 2010
Molecular and developmental integrity after trophectoderm biopsy: evidence from human and mouse models
Blair R McCallie1, Michelle M Denomme1, Kerri A Bochantin-Winders1
1CCRM Research, Lone Tree, Colorado.
Objective:
To determine whether trophectoderm (TE) biopsy performed for preimplantation genetic testing induces molecular, epigenetic, or developmental perturbations in preimplantation embryos and subsequent placental development.
Design:
Comparative multiomics investigation of human blastocysts combined with a murine embryo transfer model.
Subjects:
Surplus cryopreserved human euploid blastocysts donated for research and murine blastocysts that were either subjected to TE biopsy or no biopsy.
Exposure:
The impact of blastocyst-stage TE biopsy on transcriptomic, epigenomic, developmental, and/or placental outcomes.
Main Outcome Measures:
Differential gene expression, imprinting methylation, whole-genome deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation of inner cell mass and TE, mitotic cell division mechanics, implantation rates, fetal and placental growth, placental methylation.
Results:
Trophectoderm biopsy was not associated with biologically meaningful molecular or epigenetic alterations in human blastocysts. Gene expression, imprinting methylation, global DNA methylation, and DNA budding/shedding were comparable between biopsied and nonbiopsied embryos. In a murine model, biopsy did not affect implantation rates, fetal or placental growth, placental methylome, or imprinting methylation status.
Conclusion:
A comprehensive multiomics assessment of human blastocysts, supported by developmental and placental analyses in a murine model, found no evidence that TE biopsy adversely affects early embryonic molecular regulation or subsequent developmental outcomes. These findings support using TE biopsy as a minimally invasive micromanipulation procedure.
