Experiments on the transplantation of ova in mice

Mammalian Fertilization Misread? Sperm Penetration of the Eutherian Zona Pellucida Is Unlikely to be a Lytic Event

“…Adams observed that rabbit blastocysts from which the zona had been removed did not survive (cited in [124]), investigation of the function of the zona after fertilization has been limited primarily to small rodents. Zona-free rodent eggs can rarely be recovered more than 2 h or so after their transfer to the oviduct [125][126][127]. This was also the case for intact rabbit eggs transferred after pretreatment with 0.1% trypsin or chymotrypsin, unless first exposed to protease inhibitors [128].…”

The Development of Sheep Eggs in the Rabbit Oviduct and Their Viability After Re-Transfer to Ewes

“…Such retardation could have been caused by the effects of egg transfer as demonstrated by Tarkowski (1959) with mouse eggs. However, two-and four-cell eggs appeared to develop more rapidly in the oviducts of pseudopregnant rabbits, and, though this observation is somewhat imprecise, since a greater proportion of four-cell eggs were transferred to pseudopregnant rabbits, it would seem probable that the oviduct in pseudopregnancy may provide a better environment for the developing sheep egg than that afforded by the oestrous doe.…”

Consequences of accelerated ovum transport, including a re-evaluation of Estes' operation

“…For Day-2 eggs transferred to a Day-2 uterus 22% (17/76) survived to term (Chang, 1950), and very similar results have been obtained by C. E. Adams (unpublished), using 2\ day eggs (see Table 1). Tarkowski (1959) transferred 41 2-cell eggs to 6 recipient mice on the 2nd day after copulation and obtained "no positive results". Examinations on the 5th and 7th days revealed complete absence of any trace of implantation, and on the 4th day of any transplanted eggs in the uterus.…”

“…The egg transfer technique permits the most precise timing to be achieved in simulating accelerated transport. Until now, observations on egg transfer to the uterus before, at or shortly after ovulation, were available for only 4 species: rabbit (Chang, 1950;Adams, 1970), mouse (Tarkowski, 1959;Doyle, Gates & Noyes, 1963), rat (Noyes & Dickmann, 1960), and ferret (Chang, 1969). Rabbit Chang (1950) transferred a total of 148 eggs to 3 Day-0, i.e.…”