title: Mitochondrial DNA in the mouse preimplantation embryo.
abstract: Total DNA was extracted from mouse embryos that were collected from CD-1 random-bred females on Day 1 of pregnancy and cultured for up to 4 days in vitro, or from the reproductive tracts of pregnant females on Days 1, 3, 4 and 5 of pregnancy. Southern blot analyses with a cloned mouse mitochondrial DNA probe were performed to determine the relative levels of mitochondrial DNA in the zygote, morula, blastocyst and early egg cylinder stage embryos. The results indicated that the total amount of mitochondrial DNA does not change during development of the mouse embryo up to the egg cylinder stage and is not altered during in-vitro culture of the fertilized one-cell embryo to the blastocyst stage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cellular Biology, Tufts University, School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, Massachusetts 01536.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ebert
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liem
authors.forename: N B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Hecht
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009028:Morula / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D015053:Zygote / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial