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Nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of female and male pre-hatching embryo metabolites at the embryo-maternal interface

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Abstract

Introduction

Bovine female and male embryos differentially release metabolites with signalling effects to culture media. However, it is unknown if the embryo-maternal interface (EMI) metabolome is modified by embryonic sex.

Objective

To analyse using a combination of 1H NMR and a co-culture of endometrial cells the EMI.

Results

Twenty-six metabolites were identified and quantified in the EMI, nine metabolites reflected the sex of the embryo rather than their presence.

Conclusions

1H NMR is sensitive enough to perform quantitative analysis of sex-induced differences in the EMI. These results may help to understand the embryo-maternal dialogue on the basis of embryonic sex.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank JN Caamaño for his assistance in cell culture and Ann Hannigan for the English revision of this article. Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) projects AGL2016-78597R and AGL2016-81890-REDT (Redes de Excelencia). Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) and M. Velázquez (Newcastle University, UK), whose critical discussion is very appreciated. The authors are members of the COST Action 16119, In vitro 3-D Total Cell guidance and Fitness (Cellfit).

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Authors

Contributions

EG and MM conceived and designed research. DMG, SC, JG and PS conducted experiments. PS and JG contributed new reagents or analytical tools. EG analysed data. MM wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Muñoz.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All experimental procedures were approved by the Animal Research Ethics Committee of SERIDA (Agreement 02/02/2012), in accordance with the EC Directive 86/609/EC.

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Muñoz, M., Gatien, J., Salvetti, P. et al. Nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of female and male pre-hatching embryo metabolites at the embryo-maternal interface. Metabolomics 16, 47 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-020-01672-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-020-01672-4

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