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.
Kane
M T
MT
Department of Physiology, University College, Galway, Ireland.
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