title: The use of sodium hyaluronate in freezing media for bovine and murine embryos.
abstract: Four experiments were designed to determine whether sodium hyaluronate (SH) may be used to replace newborn calf serum (NCS) in murine and bovine embryo freezing media. A total of 780 mouse and 178 cattle embryos were frozen. Freezing media were prepared in Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline supplemented with 20% NCS and 10% glycerol (v/v) (medium A). In experiments I and II, NCS was replaced by 0.1% SH (w/v) in medium B and by 0.1% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (w/v) in medium C. In experiments III and IV, NCS was replaced in mouse embryo freezing medium by three different molecular weights of SH as follows: 0.1 or 0.2% (SH-1; < 3 x 10(5) Da) in medium B, by 0.1 or 0.05% (SH-2; 5-7.5 x 10(5) Da) in medium C, and by 0.1 or 0.025% (SH-3; > 1.2 x 10(6) Da) in medium D. Embryos were frozen and thawed using standard procedures. Glycerol was diluted from embryos after thawing in a single step with 1.0 M sucrose. After 48 h in culture (Ham's F-10 medium for cattle embryos and BWW medium for mouse embryos), embryos were evaluated for development to expanded or hatched blastocysts. Survival rates were compared by chi 2 analysis. In experiment I, there were no significant differences in mouse embryo survival or development between NCS, SH, and PVA groups (84.1, 79.2, and 83.3%, respectively). In experiment II, there were no significant differences in bovine embryo survival between NCS and SH groups (67.2 and 67.7%), but both had significantly higher survival than the PVA group (37.9%; P < 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Herd Medicine and Theriogenology, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palasz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alkemade
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Mapletoft
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods*; D003470:Culture Media; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D008970:Molecular Weight; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid