Minimal nutrient requirements for culture of one-cell rabbit embryos.
The minimal nutrient requirements of one-cell rabbit embryos for cleavage during in vitro culture were investigated. One-cell rabbit embryos were cultivated in a simple salt solution supplemented with the macromolecule polyvinylalcohol (PVA) either alone or with bovine serum albumin (BSA), amino acids, or one of a number of potential energy sources. At the end of 48 h culture, the embryos were stained with aceto-orcein HCl and the number of nucleated cells per embryo counted. One-cell embryos in medium with PVA but without an exogenous, fixed nitrogen source or energy substrate cleaved to a mean of 10.4 cells per embryo. Addition of the putative energy substrates--phosphoenolpyruvate, malate, acetate, and lactate--resulted in nonsignificant increases in cleavage rate. Glucose, pyruvate, a group of 20 amino acids from Ham's F-10 medium, and BSA gave a statistically significant doubling of the cleavage rate. These results indicate that the one-cell rabbit embryo, unlike the mouse embryo, has significant endogenous energy sources and that an exogenous, fixed nitrogen source is not essential for cleavage.
Department of Physiology, University College, Galway, Ireland.
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MT
Kane
D000818:Animals; D002970:Cleavage Stage, Ovum / Q000502:physiology; D003470:Culture Media; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D011817:Rabbits / Q000196:embryology*; D015053:Zygote / Q000502:physiology*
D003470:Culture Media