Effects of in vitro Embryo Culturing and Subsequent Embryo Transfer on Behavior and Brain Development in 5xFAD Mice: a Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

A pressing issue in medicine is the safety of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and their impact on predisposition to various diseases. Here, we investigated for the first time the long-term effects of widely used reproductive technologies in a 5xFAD mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The objective of this work was to study the behavioral characteristics of 5xFAD mice compared to wild-type (WT) control mice. Offspring were obtained either by natural mating or due to in vitro embryo culturing for 27 h in KSOMaa medium, followed by embryo transfer to recipient females. Once the offspring reached 6 months of age, a series of the following behavioral tests was conducted—tail suspension (TS) test, elevated plus maze (EPM) test, and open field (OF) test, as well as body weight and brain mass were measured. It can be concluded that some long-term effects of ART application may be similar in mice predisposed to AD (5xFAD genotype) and control WT mice. Such effects include increased body weight and reduced anxiety in the EPM test. However, some ART effects differed between 5xFAD and WT progeny. Specifically, this concerned the presence/absence of effects on the immobility time in the TS test and the number of grooming bouts in the OF test. The results may have translational implications for medicine.