Efeito do modelador epigenético 5-Aza-2’-Deoxycytidine no desenvolvimento dos embriões bovinos produzidos após choque térmico em oócitos

Abstract

Climate changes is a threat to the species and the financial sustainability of the production systems. Preliminary studies showed that bovine embryos submitted to heat shock presented differentiated levels of heterochromatin, which can compromise the development. Some substances interfere in the chromatin structure or DNA methylation can influence the epigenetic events of embryonic development. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of 5-aza-2'deoxycytidine in the production of bovine embryos using oocytes submitted to heat shock. Oocytes of slaughterhouse cows were matured in TCM-199 + 10% serum cow in heat and distributed on: experiment 1 (NHS without heat shock) - 5%CO2 and 38.5ºC 24h; experiment 2 (HS with heat shock) - 6.5-7.0%CO2 and 41.5ºC 12h + 12h in 5%CO2 and 38.5ºC. IVF was performed in FERT-TALP for 20h in conventional maturation conditions. The cultivation was performed in CR2aa+2.5%FBS a 38.5ºC, 5%CO2 and 5%O2 for 8 days. In each experiment, the embryos were divided into the following treatments: without addition of 5-aza (NHS or HS - Controls), exposed to 5- aza(10nm) for 24h (or NHS24h or HS24h) or 48h (or NHS48h or HS48h). After exposure to the drug, embryos were cultivated in the same NHS and HS to complete development. The development stage and the rate of embryos were evaluated at day 3 (D3), 7 (D7) and 8 (D8), and blastocysts were evaluated by TUNEL as the apoptotic rate. Embryos D2 and D3 were submitted to immunofluorescence for marking HP1β. There was no difference in the cleavage of the two experiments. The percentage of 8-cell embryos D3 was lower in all the groups treated with 5-aza. Lower blastocyst rates were obtained in treatment NHS48h. Lower blastocysts rates were produced in D7 and D8 to HS24h and HS48h.The number of total cells and the inner cell mass of blastocysts was similar between groups in the two experiments. The apoptotic index in experimental group 1 was similar, and in experiment 2 occurred only difference between HS24h and HS48h groups. The apoptotic index of the inner cell mass did not differ in both experiments. The use of 5-aza do not affect the cleavage rates in D3, but the long exposition reduces blastocyst rates. Associated with heat shock, 5-aza reduces blastocyst rates independent of the exposition time. However, there was no detectable cell injury in embryos that developed to blastocyst. The intensity of the signal for heterochromatin in embryos with 4-7 cells was similar between the groups, the percentage of HP1β negative nucleus was low and more nucleus were exhibiting increased HP1β signal in NHS24h. 8-16 cell embryos present a reduction of signal intensity when exposed to 5-aza, which does not occur in the heat shock embryos with similar intensities to NHS, and 5-aza has apparently no effect on HP1β levels. Changes in euchromatin and heterochromatin patterns in the heat shock embryos may be related to a complex EGA related to those groups, which might be related to lower blastocyst rate.