Actions of thermal stress in two-cell bovine embryos: oxygen metabolism, glutathione and ATP content, and the time-course of development

The mechanism by which heat shock disrupts development of the two-cell bovine embryo was examined. The reduction in the proportion of embryos that became blastocysts caused by heat shock was not exacerbated when embryos were cultured in air (20.95% O-2) as compared with 5% O-2. In addition, heat shock did not reduce embryonic content of glutathione, cause a significant alteration in oxygen consumption, or change embryonic ATP content. When embryos were heat-shocked at the two-cell stage and allowed to continue development until 72 h post insemination, heat-shocked embryos had fewer total nuclei and a higher percentage of them were condensed. Moreover, embryos became blocked in development at the eight-cell stage. The lack of effect of the oxygen environment on the survival of embryos exposed to heat shock, as well as the unchanged content of glutathione, suggest that free radical production is not a major cause for the inhibition in development caused by heat shock at the two-cell stage. In addition, heat shock appears to have no immediate effect on oxidative phosphorylation since no differences in ATP content were observed. Finally, the finding that heat shock causes a block to development at the eight-cell stage implies that previously reported mitochondrial damage caused by heat shock or other heat shock-induced alterations in cellular physiology render the embryo unable to proceed past the eight-cell stage.