Maternal exposure to hyperbaric oxygen at the preimplantation stages increases apoptosis and ectopic Cdx2 expression and decreases Oct4 expression in mouse blastocysts via Nrf2‐Notch1 upregulation and Nf2 downregulation

The environmental oxygen tension has been reported to impact the blastocyst quality and cell numbers in the inner cell mass (ICM) during human and murine embryogenesis. While the molecular mechanisms leading to increased ICM cell numbers and pluripotency gene expression under hypoxia have been deciphered, it remains unknown which regulatory pathways caused the underweight fetal body and overweight placenta after maternal exposure to hyperbaric oxygen (HBO).