Free fatty acid treatment alters autophagy during mouse preimplantation embryo development
Abstract
Obesity-induced hyperlipidemia is one of the main factors for female infertility. Hyperlipidemia, specifically with high levels of palmitic acid (PA) and oleic acid (OA), interferes with preimplantation development. Autophagy is essential in early embryo development but, it is unknown whether hyperlipidemia affects autophagic mechanisms in preimplantation embryos. It was hypothesized that PA will alter autophagy in preimplantation mouse embryos and that the subsequent effects will be reversed by OA. PA impaired blastocyst development by arresting embryos at the 8-cell stage. PA also elevated early embryo autophagy by increasing autophagosome formation, decreasing maturation, and disrupting degradation. Co-treatment with OA showed developmental delay at the early preimplantation stages but restored blastocyst formation. OA treatment also counteracted PA-induced effects on autophagy. Overall, PA altered autophagy at various levels, was reversed by the addition of OA. Ultimately, we aim to assist obese patients by offsetting the negative effects of hyperlipidemia on preimplantation embryo development.