Infertility affects approximately 10% of couples worldwide.
Although assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro
fertilization are commonly used in developed countries to treat
infertile couples, the processes remain relatively inefficient.
Better understanding of events such as embryo development prior
to implantation, a time when many potential natural pregnancies
fail, could help improve the efficiency of assisted reproductive
technologies. In this context, a team of researchers, led by
Hiroki Kurihara, at the University of Tokyo, Japan, has now
determined that the protein Sirt3 helps protect preimplantation
mouse embryos against stress conditions during in vitro
fertilization and culture. Of potential clinical significance,
the negative effects of Sirt3 inactivation on mouse embryos
could be overcome by culture in the presence of an antioxidant
or in low oxygen conditions. TITLE: Sirt3 protects in
vitro–fertilized mouse preimplantation embryos against oxidative
stress–induced p53-mediated developm