A blastocyst biopsy approach for preimplantation genetic diagnosis technique that affects the expression of SNAP-α in mice

Abstract Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a technique that is commonly used during assisted reproduction in the clinics to eliminate genetically abnormal embryos before implantation. The blastomere biopsy technique has risks related to the embryo, but blastocyst biopsy has not been systematically evaluated in relation to effects after birth, and the resulting offspring have not been followed up on. We designed a series of experiments to evaluate the risk of blastocyst biopsy on the resulting progeny. Mice were divided into a PGD group and a control group. The former was the progeny of mice that underwent blastocyst biopsy and the latter was delivered through a normal pregnancy without blastocyst biopsy. Each group consisted of 15 animals. We found no effects of blastocyst biopsy on reproductive capacities and weight gain. As for neurobehavioral evaluation between both groups, there were no significant differences in tail suspension test, sucrose preference test, the open field test and the elevated plus maze. Western blotting, immunohistochemistry and quantitative RT-PCR results showed that the expression levels of MBP, PRDX5 and UCHL1 in the PGD group were not significantly different compared to the control group, but SNAP-α expression in the PGD group was lower than that in control group. In summary, we concluded that blastocyst biopsy had no adverse effect on the general growth and behavior in mice. However, blastocyst biopsy effected the expression of SNAP-α. Therefore, the safety of blastocyst biopsy requires further evaluation.