Summary. Mother-fetus transfer and uptake of essential fatty acids by the rat fetus.Transfer through the placenta and uptake of 14 C linoleic and arachidonic acids by the fetus were investigated in the 20-day old rat fetus. 14 C-labelled blood originating from pregnant rats fed 14 C methyl-linoleate was perfused in situ during 13 min. into the placentofetal system.

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species which is of interest from both zootechnical and biomedical points of view. We first defined the technical parameters for establishing an embryo bank using the INRA 'hyperfecund' line. Subsequently we have begun to apply these techniques of cryopreservation to the following populations : a strain with a large population size and high zootechnical value, INRA A-1077, selected over 18 generations for litter size and maintained as a closed breeding group; a breed with reduced population size, the 'Brun-marron de Lorra,ine'; a line of biomedical interest consisting of 3 families selected for allotypic variation in genes coding for the immunoglobin heavy chain; and a mutant strain referred to as the 'jumping Alfort' rabbit. This research should allow us to define the scientific and economic choices important in the extension of this work to other rabbit populations, particularly transgenic lines and clones. conservation / genetic diversity / cryobank / rabbit