Preclinical models for human pre-embryo biopsy and genetic diagnosis. I. Efficiency and normalcy of mouse pre-embryo development after different biopsy techniques.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the usefulness of three micromanipulative methods at two different stages of pre-embryo development and to assess possible effects on postbiopsy survival and development.


METHODS
Four-cell and eight-cell mouse pre-embryos were biopsied using enucleation, aspiration, or extrusion of single blastomeres. After biopsy, pre-embryos were observed for in vitro and in vivo development.


METHODS
Laboratories of The Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Eastern Virginia Medical School.


METHODS
Only mice were used.


METHODS
Pre-embryo biopsy, developmental normalcy and pre-embryo transfer were studied.


METHODS
Few pre-embryos died as a result of biopsy trauma. High postbiopsy survival rates were associated with normal intrauterine and postnatal development.


RESULTS
Expanded blastocyst formation rates from four-cell and eight-cell pre-embryos were 94.6%, 96.7% (controls); 80.7%, 89.1% (enucleation); 90.1%, 91.7% (aspiration); 83.1%, 91.5% (extrusion), respectively. Live birth rates at the four-cell stage were slightly lower in the enucleation group than in the blastomere aspiration and extrusion groups or controls (49.2% versus 58.8%, 56.3% and 66.7%, respectively). For the eight-cell stage, there were no differences between the groups. No developmental abnormalities were found in body or organ weights, in neonates or at 3 weeks of age, or in their subsequent ability to reproduce a second generation.


CONCLUSIONS
Biopsy of mouse pre-embryos produces only a small loss of viability because of trauma and permits normal prenatal and postnatal development among surviving pre-embryos.
Takeuchi
K
K
Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk 23510.
Sandow
B A
BA
Morsy
M
M
Kaufmann
R A
RA
Beebe
S J
SJ
Hodgen
G D
GD
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000254:growth & development; D001706:Biopsy; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology; D001835:Body Weight; D010064:Embryo Implantation; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000473:pathology*; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D005260:Female; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000175:diagnosis*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*