HPV-16 exposed mouse embryos: a potential model for pregnancy wastage

Purpose Placentas from spontaneous abortions and preterm deliveries have a higher prevalence of Human papillomavirus (HPV) compared to placentas from elective abortions and term births. The objective was to determine the effects of HPV-16 on the adhesion and implantation properties of early embryo trophoblasts. Methods Two-cell mouse embryos were cultured (medium G2, 5 % CO 2 , 37 °C) for 72–96 h and exposed to either HPV-16 rich SiHa cell lysates which were refrigerated after mechanical lysis, thawed lysates which had been frozen for freeze/thaw lysis method, or control medium, incubated (4–5 days) and evaluated by microscopy ( N = 96 embryos, 3 repeated experiments). Trophoblasts were stained and images were digitized. Adhesion and dimension data were analyzed by Chi-square and t test, respectively. Results HPV-16 exposed embryos exhibited less adhesion through reduced implantation compared with the control (combined lysates 53.8 vs. 85.7 %, P