Chimerization of highly asynchronous murine blastomeres: Developmental alteration?

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Abstract
Previous studies have shown that early embryos contain information that can alter the developmental fate of adjacent cells and transferred nuclei. In this report we show that a specific combination of cells from early murine embryos, a single blastomere from an eight‐cell embryo placed under the zona pellucida with a two‐cell embryo, results in a difference in incorporation of 3H‐uridine and expression of two protein bands between the chimeric treatment group and the nonchimeric controls, a single blastomere from an eight‐cell embryo in a separate zona pellucida and a two‐cell embryo. The incorporation of 3H‐uridine in the chimeric group and nonchimeric control group was significantly different at 45 hours after chimerization (P < .02). A stage‐specific protein band (52k) on a polyacrylamide gel detected with fluorography was found to be qualitatively different (present more often; P < .01) and another stage‐specific protein band (48k) was found to be quantitatively different (more protein; P equals; .07) in the chimeric treatment vs. the nonchimeric controls at 45 hours after chimerization. These results suggest communication between the cells resulting in a change in their incorporation of uridine and protein synthetic profiles.