Inhibition of preimplantation mouse embryo developmentby isoflurane

Abstract

Preimplantation mouse embryos were exposed to a commonly used inhalational anesthetic agent, isoflurane, to determine its effects on embryo development. Two-cell embryos were exposed at various intervals (5 to 6 hours, 3 to 4 hours, and 0 to 1 hour) before the onset of their first cleavage in vitro. In addition, the effects of 5% isoflurane on four-cell embryos exposed about 2 hours after the first cleavage and morula stage embryos also were examined. Development to the blastocyst stage was inhibited by 3% and 5% isoflurane (p less than 0.005) but not by 1.5% isoflurane when two-cell embryos were exposed 3 to 4 hours or 0 to 1 hour before the onset of cleavage. Most of the affected embryos completed cell division and came to a halt at the three- to four-cell stage. The development of embryos exposed to isoflurane at the four-cell or morula stage was unaffected. Isoflurane adversely affects subsequent preimplantation development when two-cell mouse embryos are exposed just before the onset of their first cleavage in vitro.