A low molecular weight extract of bovine serum albumin stimulates rabbit blastocyst cell division and expansion in vitro

Purification and Embryotropic Roles of Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1 in Development of "HanWoo"(Bos taurus coreanae) Oocytes Co-cultured with Bovine Oviduct Epithelial Cells.

“…More (P<0.05) embryos developed to the morula and blastocyst stages after the addition of 2.5 µg/ml to culture medium than after no addition. In conclusion, our data indicate that BOEC secrete TIMP-1 and this glycoprotein promotes the prehatched development of "HanWoo" embryos derived from in vitro-fertilization.-KEY WORDS: bovine embryo, bovine oviduct epithelial cell (BOEC), in vitro-fertilization (IVF), prehatched development, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1).J Recent findings that embryo development is enhanced by culture in either BOEC-conditioned medium [2,3,11,12] or a perifusion culture chamber [18] suggest that BOEC have a positive paracrine action on development of embryos to the blastocyst stage. Attempts to purify the embryotropic factors secreted by BOEC have been made in several studies [15,22].…”

“…J Recent findings that embryo development is enhanced by culture in either BOEC-conditioned medium [2,3,11,12] or a perifusion culture chamber [18] suggest that BOEC have a positive paracrine action on development of embryos to the blastocyst stage. Attempts to purify the embryotropic factors secreted by BOEC have been made in several studies [15,22].…”

Development retardation in cultured preimplantation rabbit embryos

“…Retardation, e.g. in rabbit embryos, is manifest both in quantitative terms such as cell number or embryo size (Pincus & Werthessen, 1938;Seidel, 1960;Daniel, 1967; Staples, 1967;Onuma et ai, 1968;Adams, 1970;Anderson & Foote, 1975;Maurer & Beier, 1976; Kane & Headon, 1980; Kane, 1985;Stroebele-Mueller et ai, 1985) and qualitative terms like developmental delay before transfer (Seidel et ai, 1976) or embryoblast differentiation (Beier et ai, 1983). The aim of the present study was to characterize further and quantify in-vitro retardation by using the technique of thymidine incorporation.…”

The use of eosin B to assess the viability and developmental potential of rat embryos

“…The commercial preparations of BSA frequently used for embryo culture media are relatively impure (Kane and Headon 1980), often containing unknown, low molecular weight proteins, fatty acids, and steroids (Wright and Bondioli 1981), and may vary considerably in their growth-promoting effects (Kane 1983). In fact, a recent study (Kane 1985) reported that the growth-promoting Influence of BSA may be due to a low molecular weight contaminant that can be extracted from BSA. Despite the confusion that may have developed from the inclusion of BSA or serum in many media considered to be "chemically defined", there is now evidence that mouse embryos can be cultured in a medium which is truly chemically defined and devoid of protein (Boulton and Whittingham 1987, Caro and Trounson 1984, Mahadevan et al 1986).…”

“…Morphometric analyses could provide a quantitative measurement of the embryo for the analysis of effects on embryo development. However, as noted in the introductory section of this thesis, while morphometric analysis of embryos can be used to detect differences in diameter of blastocysts to analyze the responses of embryos to factors in culture (Kane 1985), these analyses are not generally applicable to the earlier stages of development, because the initial cleavage divisions are reductional in nature (Papaioannou andEbert 1986, Richa andSolter 1986). In fact, Linares and King (1980) noted no difference in zona pellucida diameter between normal blastocysts and degenerate embryos and, despite the degenerative changes, the diameter of the cell mass of normal blastocysts was only slightly greater than that of degenerate blastocysts.…”