Intraperitoneal administration of mouse kisspeptin-10 to mice during estrus stage induces pseudopregnancy.
Mashiko. Daisuke D; Tokoro. Mikiko M; Yao. Tatsuma T; Yamagata. Kazuo K
Key Findings
- Injecting kisspeptin-10 into female mice at estrus reliably induces a pseudopregnant state.
- Blastocyst transfer after kisspeptin-10 treatment resulted in high pregnancy rates (up to 95%) and decent birth rates (around 50%).
- The method works for both blastocyst and 2‑cell embryo transfers, achieving 100% pregnancy in the small 2‑cell cohort.
Practical Outcomes
- For researchers working with mouse models, kisspeptin-10 offers a convenient way to generate pseudopregnant females without needing vasectomized males. This streamlines embryo transfer protocols and can improve efficiency in reproductive studies. However, the findings have no direct application for human health optimization or biohacking practices.
Summary
The study shows that giving mice a peptide called kisspeptin-10 during their fertile phase can make them act like they are pregnant without mating, which helps scientists transfer embryos and produce offspring more easily.
Abstract
A simple method for producing pseudopregnant mice supports pup production. In this study, pregnant ICR were obtained mice without mating with vasectomized mice via administration of mouse Kisspeptin-10 (mKp-10) and transferring blastocysts to the uterus. Blastocyst transfer after mKp-10 administration to mice with gapping and reddish pink vagina resulted in 65.2% (15/23) pregnancies, and 39.1% (34/87) of the transferred blastocysts showed full-term growth. Vaginal smears were observed for accurate estrus cycle determination, and subsequent administration of mKp10 to mice during the estrus stage and blastocyst transfer resulted in 95.2% (20/21) pregnancies and 50.7% (104/205) birth rates. Regarding 2-cell transfer after administration of mKp-10, 100% (8/8) of the mice became pregnant, and 45.0% (36/80) of the embryos were born. Administration of mKp-10 to mice during the estrus stage is a convenient way to generate pseudopregnant mice.
Study Information
pubmed
2023
2023-10-27T00:00:00.000Z
10.1111/gtc.13077
3
35