Combined parental obesity negatively impacts preimplantation mouse embryo development, kinetics, morphology and metabolism

Abstract

STUDY QUESTION Does combined parental obesity, both an obese mother and father, have a greater effect on mouse preimplantation embryo development and quality than single-parent obesity? SUMMARY ANSWER Combined parental obesity causes a greater reduction in the blastocyst rate and a greater delay to the timing of key embryonic developmental events than single-parental obesity, as well as altering embryonic characteristics, such as zona pellucida width. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Maternal or paternal obesity alone are known to have significant and detrimental impacts on preimplantation embryo development. Furthermore, these early embryonic perturbations can have long-term impacts on both offspring ..