Effects of oocyte vitrification on histone modifications
Li-Ying Yan A B , Jie Yan A B , Jie Qiao A C , Pan-Lin Zhao A and Ping Liu AA Center of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China.
B These authors contributed equally to this work.
C Corresponding author. Email: jie.qiao@263.net
Reproduction, Fertility and Development 22(6) 920-925 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD09312
Submitted: 23 December 2009 Accepted: 8 January 2010 Published: 25 May 2010
Abstract
Vitrification has been widely used as an assisted reproductive technology in animals and humans, yet the impact of oocyte vitrification and warming on survival and histone modifications has to be evaluated. In the present study, the survival of mouse MII oocytes was assessed after freezing, as were changes in histone 3 lysine 9 (H3K9) dimethylation, histone 4 lysine 5 (H4K5) acetylation and histone 3 lysine 14 (H3K14) acetylation. The results show that, in oocytes subjected to vitrification, H3K9 methylation and H4K5 acetylation were increased. H3K14 acetylation could not be detected in either non-vitrified or vitrified oocytes. Oocytes are very sensitive to changes in H3K9 and H4K5 following vitrification. Both these histone modifications could be useful markers to monitor epigenetic perturbations induced by various experimental vitrification protocols and eventually for optimising the cryopreservation of human oocytes.
Additional keywords: cryopreservation, mouse.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Pei Zhang for technical assistance. Dr David Cram generously offered valuable advice in the preparation of the manuscript. This work was supported by Major State Basic Research Development Program of the People’s Republic of China (2007CB948102), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (BMU20090514-603) and Key Projects in the National Science and Technology Pillar Program in the Eleventh Five-year Plan Period (2007BA104B00).
Bernard, A. , and Fuller, B. J. (1996). Cryopreservation of human oocytes: a review of current problems and perspectives. Hum. Reprod. Update 2, 193–207.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Carroll, J. , Depypere, H. , and Matthews, C. D. (1990). Freeze–thaw-induced changes of the zona pellucida explains decreased rates of fertilization in frozen–thawed mouse oocytes. J. Reprod. Fertil. 90, 547–553.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Chen, C. (1986). Pregnancy after human oocyte cryopreservation. Lancet 327, 884–886.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Chen, S. U. , Lien, Y. R. , Chao, K. H. , Ho, H. N. , Yang, Y. S. , and Lee, T. Y. (2003). Effects of cryopreservation on meiotic spindles of oocytes and its dynamics after thawing: clinical implications in oocyte freezing. A review article. Mol. Cell. Endocrinol. 202, 101–107.
| PubMed |
Chian, R. C. , Huang, J. Y. , Tan, S. L. , Lucena, E. , Saa, A. , Rojas, A. , Ruvalcaba Castellon, L. A. , Garcia Amador, M. I. , and Montoya Sarmiento, J. E. (2008). Obstetric and perinatal outcome in 200 infants conceived from vitrified oocytes. Reprod. Biomed. Online 16, 608–610.
| PubMed |
Cobo, A. , Rubio, C. , Gerli, S. , Ruiz, A. , Pellicer, A. , and Remohi, J. (2001). Use of fluorescence in situ hybridization to assess the chromosomal status of embryos obtained from cryopreserved oocytes. Fertil. Steril. 75, 354–360.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Fadini, R. , Brambillasca, F. , Renzini, M. M. , Merola, M. , Comi, R. , De Ponti, E. , and Dal Canto, M. B. (2009). Human oocyte cryopreservation: comparison between slow and ultrarapid methods. Reprod. Biomed. Online 19, 171–180.
| PubMed |
Freitag, M. , and Selker, E. U. (2005). Controlling DNA methylation: many roads to one modification. Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 15, 191–199.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Heard, E. , Rougeulle, C. , Arnaud, D. , Avner, P. , Allis, C. D. , and Spector, D. L. (2001). Methylation of histone H3 at Lys-9 is an early mark on the X chromosome during X inactivation. Cell 107, 727–738.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Hochi, S. , Kozawa, M. , Fujimoto, T. , Hondo, E. , Yamada, J. , and Oguri, N. (1996). In vitro maturation and transmission electron microscopic observation of horse oocytes after vitrification. Cryobiology 33, 300–310.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Jones, A. , Van Blerkom, J. , Davis, P. , and Toledo, A. A. (2004). Cryopreservation of metaphase II human oocytes effects mitochondrial membrane potential: implications for developmental competence. Hum. Reprod. 19, 1861–1866.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Kim, J. M. , Ogura, A. , Nagata, M. , and Aoki, F. (2002). Analysis of the mechanism for chromatin remodeling in embryos reconstructed by somatic nuclear transfer. Biol. Reprod. 67, 760–766.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Kim, J. M. , Liu, H. , Tazaki, M. , Nagata, M. , and Aoki, F. (2003). Changes in histone acetylation during mouse oocyte meiosis. J. Cell Biol. 162, 37–46.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Ko, C. S. , Ding, D. C. , Chu, T. W. , Chu, Y. N. , Chen, I. C. , Chen, W. H. , and Wu, G. J. (2008). Changes to the meiotic spindle and zona pellucida of mature mouse oocytes following different cryopreservation methods. Anim. Reprod. Sci. 105, 272–282.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Kouzarides, T. (2007). Chromatin modifications and their function. Cell 128, 693–705.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Kubicek, S. , Schotta, G. , Lachner, M. , Sengupta, R. , and Kohlmaier, A. , et al. (2006). The role of histone modifications in epigenetic transitions during normal and perturbed development. Ernst Schering Res. Found. Workshop 57, 1–27.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Noyes, N. , Porcu, E. , and Borini, A. (2009). Over 900 oocyte cryopreservation babies born with no apparent increase in congenital anomalies. Reprod. Biomed. Online 18, 769–776.
| PubMed |
Park, S. E. , Son, W. Y. , Lee, S. H. , Lee, K. A. , Ko, J. J. , and Cha, K. Y. (1997). Chromosome and spindle configurations of human oocytes matured in vitro after cryopreservation at the germinal vesicle stage. Fertil. Steril. 68, 920–926.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Richards, E. J. , and Elgin, S. C. (2002). Epigenetic codes for heterochromatin formation and silencing: rounding up the usual suspects. Cell 108, 489–500.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Saunders, K. M. , and Parks, J. E. (1999). Effects of cryopreservation procedures on the cytology and fertilization rate of in vitro-matured bovine oocytes. Biol. Reprod. 61, 178–187.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Surani, M. A. , Hayashi, K. , and Hajkova, P. (2007). Genetic and epigenetic regulators of pluripotency. Cell 128, 747–762.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Tamaru, H. , Zhang, X. , McMillen, D. , Singh, P. B. , Nakayama, J. , Grewal, S. I. , Allis, C. D. , Cheng, X. , and Selker, E. U. (2003). Trimethylated lysine 9 of histone H3 is a mark for DNA methylation in Neurospora crassa. Nat. Genet. 34, 75–79.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Torres-Padilla, M. E. , Parfitt, D. E. , Kouzarides, T. , and Zernicka-Goetz, M. (2007). Histone arginine methylation regulates pluripotency in the early mouse embryo. Nature 445, 214–218.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Worrad, D. M. , Turner, B. M. , and Schultz, R. M. (1995). Temporally restricted spatial localization of acetylated isoforms of histone H4 and RNA polymerase II in the 2-cell mouse embryo. Development 121, 2949–2959.
| PubMed |
Zhang, Y. , and Reinberg, D. (2001). Transcription regulation by histone methylation: interplay between different covalent modifications of the core histone tails. Genes Dev. 15, 2343–2360.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
