Maternal Control of Development in Vertebrates


Book Description

Eggs of all animals contain mRNAs and proteins that are supplied to or deposited in the egg as it develops during oogenesis. These maternal gene products regulate all aspects of oocyte development, and an embryo fully relies on these maternal gene products for all aspects of its early development, including fertilization, transitions between meiotic and mitotic cell cycles, and activation of its own genome. Given the diverse processes required to produce a developmentally competent egg and embryo, it is not surprising that maternal gene products are not only essential for normal embryonic development but also for fertility. This review provides an overview of fundamental aspects of oocyte and early embryonic development and the interference and genetic approaches that have provided access to maternally regulated aspects of vertebrate development. Some of the pathways and molecules highlighted in this review, in particular, Bmps, Wnts, small GTPases, cytoskeletal components, and cell cycle regulators, are well known and are essential regulators of multiple aspects of animal development, including oogenesis, early embryogenesis, organogenesis, and reproductive fitness of the adult animal. Specific examples of developmental processes under maternal control and the essential proteins will be explored in each chapter, and where known conserved aspects or divergent roles for these maternal regulators of early vertebrate development will be discussed throughout this review. Table of Contents: Introduction / Oogenesis: From Germline Stem Cells to Germline Cysts / Oocyte Polarity and the Embryonic Axes: The Balbiani Body, an Ancient Oocyte Asymmetry / Preparing Developmentally Competent Eggs / Egg Activation / Blocking Polyspermy / Cleavage/ Mitosis: Going Multicellular / Maternal-Zygotic Transition / Reprogramming: Epigenetic Modifications and Zygotic Genome Activation / Dorsal-Ventral Axis Formation before Zygotic Genome Activation in Zebrafish and Frogs / Maternal TGF-β and the Dorsal-Ventral Embryonic Axis / Maternal Control After Zygotic Genome Activation / Compensation by Stable Maternal Proteins / Maternal Contributions to Germline Establishment or Maintenance / Perspective / Acknowledgments / References




Embryo Cleavage


Book Description

Embryo cleavage experiences a series of critical events and remarkable epigenetic modifications, especially morphological change and gene expression. The development of current assisted reproductive technology has created some new observations and novel discoveries in cleavage embryos. This book updates some new technologies and methods on the study of cleavage embryos to select high-quality embryos for transfer and improve embryo implantation and pregnancy. Major contents include embryo cleavage morphokinetics based on time-lapse imaging, gene expression of cleavage embryo and noninvasive assessment, and improving embryo cleavage technology. Thus, this book will greatly add new information for embryologists to select good-quality embryos for transfer to improve human embryo transfer pregnancy rate.




Textbook of Clinical Embryology


Book Description

The success of Assisted Reproductive Technology is critically dependent upon the use of well optimized protocols, based upon sound scientific reasoning, empirical observations and evidence of clinical efficacy. Recently, the treatment of infertility has experienced a revolution, with the routine adoption of increasingly specialized molecular biological techniques and advanced methods for the manipulation of gametes and embryos. This textbook – inspired by the postgraduate degree program at the University of Oxford – guides students through the multidisciplinary syllabus essential to ART laboratory practice, from basic culture techniques and micromanipulation to laboratory management and quality assurance, and from endocrinology to molecular biology and research methods. Written for all levels of IVF practitioners, reproductive biologists and technologists involved in human reproductive science, it can be used as a reference manual for all IVF labs and as a textbook by undergraduates, advanced students, scientists and professionals involved in gamete, embryo or stem cell biology.




Mammalian Development


Book Description

"A subject collection from Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology."




Cell Movements


Book Description

This book vividly describes how complex and integrated movements can arise from the properties and behaviors of biological molecules. It provides a uniquely integrated account in which the latest findings from biophysics and molecular biology are put into the context of living cells. This second edition is updated throughout with recent advances in the field and has a completely revised and redrawn art program. The text is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and for professionals wishing for an overview of this field.




Blastocyst Implantation


Book Description




How to Prepare the Egg and Embryo to Maximize IVF Success


Book Description

This comprehensive review of the factors that affect the harvesting and preparation of oocytes and the management of embryos will allow practitioners to make evidence-based decisions for successful IVF. The book reviews and re-considers the value of strategies and outcomes in the management of fertility and conception rates, centred on the production of oocytes, and successful development of the embryo. Authored by leading experts in the field, chapters engage with treatments and strategies that affect the production of oocytes and embryos, optimizing outcomes in the management of female fertility, conception rates, and live births. This vital guide covers controlled ovarian hyperstimulation, the role of AMH in determining ovarian reserve, and primary stimulation agents and the use of adjuncts. Integral for all clinicians and embryologists working in reproductive medicine units, readers are provided with evidence-based, comprehensive advice and review of all factors affecting the management of oocytes and the embryo that are vital for successful IVF cycles.




The Sea Urchin Embryo


Book Description

Sea urchin eggs are objects of wonder for the student who sees them for the first time under the microscope. The formation of the fertil ization membrane after insemination, the beauty of mitotic cleavage, the elegant swimming of embryos, remain an esthetic pleasure even for the eyes of seasoned investigators. But sea urchin eggs have other, more practical, advantages: they lend themselves to surgical operation without difficulty and they heal perfectly; they can be obtained in very large amounts and represent thus an extremely favorable material for biochemists and molecular embryologists. It is not surprising that, in view of these exceptional advantages, sea urchin eggs have attracted the interest of innumerable biologists since O. HERTWIG discovered the fusion of the pronuclei (amphimixy), in Paracentrotus lividus, almost a century ago. The purpose of the present book is to present, in a complete and orderly fashion, the enormous amount of information which has been gathered, in the course of a hun dred years of sea urchin embryology. JOSEPH NEEDHAM, in 1930, was still able to present all that was known, at that time, on the biochemistry of all possible species of developing eggs and embryos in his famous "Chemical Embryology" (Cambridge University Press) . It would no longer be possible for one man to write a modern version of what was a "Bible" for the young embryologists of forty years ago.




An Atlas of Human Gametes and Conceptuses


Book Description

Replacing and superseding all other works in this area, Dr. Lucinda L. Veeck's An Atlas of Human Gametes and Conceptuses is the only book now in print that shows the typical and atypical morphology of human oocytes, sperm, and preembryos collected and cultured during the course of in vitro fertilization treatment. Brilliantly illustrated with hundreds of original photographs in color as well as black and white, the book also details and fully illustrates specific new reproductive technologies and provides the reader with both a glossary and a concise history of in vitro fertilization. Includes bibliographic references and index.




Essential IVF


Book Description

The intent of Essential IVF is to present current issues in clinical IVF that encompass the varied activities of those engaged in this field. By integrating clinical, basic research and laboratory-related aspects of human reproduction, readers with diverse interests should obtain a more complete understanding of the impact, importance and relevance of each in the progress of infertility treatment and an appreciation of whether emerging technologies will or should contribute to this progress in the near future. The topics selected for this volume include research that has begun to explain the origins of different follicular, gamete, embryo and uterine competence as well as specific laboratory procedures and protocols that may have important clinical implications for the generation of developmentally viable embryos. Comprehensive reviews and discussions of past and contemporary studies in clinically-oriented chapters provide a biological and outcome-based context in which current practices and protocols in human IVF may need to be reconsidered.