Simultaneous detection of multiple gene expression in mouse and human individual preimplantation embryos

Objective: To detect simultaneously multiple gene expression in mouse and human individual embryos by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Design: Transcripts involved in the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system were detected in mouse and human preimplantation embryos. Setting: An academic teaching hospital. Main Outcome Measure(s): Transcripts of the IGF family genes. Result(s): In the mouse, genes are expressed differentially and messenger RNA transcripts of maternal origin in nonfertilized ova decline gradually until the initiation of the embryonic genome transcription. Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-2 (IGFBP)-2, -3, -4, and beta-actin transcripts appear to be initiated at the two- to four-cell stage, whereas IGFBP-1, -5, and -6 transcripts are initiated at later stages. Transcription, once initiated, appears to continue through to the blastocyst stage. In humans, almost all genes of the IGF system were expressed in preimplantation embryos. This is the first report of the assessment of IGF family transcripts in individual embryos, and introduces a novel method for research and clinical diagnosis of preimplantation embryos. (C) 1997 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.