Alpha-minimum essential medium (MEM) enhances in vitro hatched blastocyst development and cell number per embryo over Ham's F-10.
OBJECTIVE
The development of mouse embryos in vitro is affected primarily by mouse strain-genotype and culture conditions. Embryo culture studies evaluate the effectiveness of culture conditions in supporting one- or two-cell mouse embryo development to the blastocyst stage by reporting the percentage blastocyst formation rate.


METHODS
Determining the cell number per cultured blastocyst may also help in determining embryo culture medium quality. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of MEM and Ham's F-10 on overall CFW mouse embryo development and hatched blastocyst cell number in vitro. CFW embryos cultured in MEM had significantly higher (87%; P < 0.001) hatched blastocyst rates than embryos cultured in F-10 (56%).


RESULTS
A significant difference in nuclei per hatched blastocyst was found between MEM and F-10 (P < 0.001). The results demonstrate that inbred mouse embryos have significantly higher blastocyst hatching rates and higher cell numbers per blastocyst when cultured in MEM.
Roudebush
W E
WE
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425-2233.
Often
N L
NL
Butler
W J
WJ
D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002452:Cell Count; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003470:Culture Media; D004475:Ectoderm / Q000166:cytology; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D014327:Trophoblasts / Q000166:cytology
D003470:Culture Media