February 2018

Mouse blastocyst exposed to 100 µM MEHP in vitro. The green color represents Oct-4 expression, a marker for inner cell mass; the pink color represents Cdx-2, a marker for trophectoderm, and blue represents Hoeschst staining of nuclei. MEHP is an endocrine disrupting chemical used in plastics manufacture that can interfere with normal hormone action in the body. The aim of this study is determine whether MEHP exposure can negatively impact early embryonic development through examination of changes in morphology, distribution of different cell types and expression of particular proteins in mouse embryos at different stages of development. This project is being conducted by Rachel Braz Arcanjo, under the supervision of Dr. Romana Nowak of the Reproductive Health and Toxicology Laboratory in the Department of Animal Sciences. Mouse blastocyst exposed to 100 µM MEHP in vitro. Picture taken on confocal microscope Zeiss LSM 880 using Z-stack feature.