Figure 2.

Embryonic development and blastocyst quality are compromised in space culture condition. (A) Analysis of embryonic development in space in fixation culture units after satellite return to Earth. Data represent means of all embryos acquired from three independent units of fixative (1: indicates unit 1; 2: indicates unit 2 and 3: indicates unit 3). CC: indicates conventional culture, SC: indicates sealed culture and SS indicates space sealed culture. (B) The total cell number in blastocysts under CC, SC and SS conditions calculated from 3D reconstruction analysis. Two-tailed Student's t-tests were used for statistical analysis. The SS group had significantly fewer cells than the CC (P = 0.047) and SC groups (P = 0.021). Each dot represents one embryo, and black bars indicate the mean cell number for each group. (C) Representative 3D images of Cdx2 and Oct4 immunofluorescence in blastocysts (>64-cell stage) developed under CC, SC and SS conditions. Oct4 stains the ICM (green), while Cdx2 stains the TE (red). Nuclei were stained with Hoechst33342 (blue). Arrowheads denote colocalization of Oct4 and Cdx2 (yellow). Scale bar, 20 μm. The percentage of Oct4-positive cells (D), Cdx2-positive cells (E) and double-positive cells (F) in CC, SC and SS embryos at the 16–32 cell, 32–64 cell and >64 cell blastocyst stages, respectively. The results are shown as the means ± SEM. P values are determined by Student's t-test (two-tailed); (SS vs. CC and SS vs.SC). n.s., not significant (P > 0.05).