title: Freezing mouse blastocysts. The influence of the preparations prior to freezing on the survival rate of the blastocysts.
abstract: A good survival rate in culturing mouse blastocysts can be obtained in Ovum Culture Medium, enriched with 20 per cent inactivated Foetal Bovine Serum or Sheep Serum under air. The transfer of fresh blastocysts gives the best results if the recipients are on day 3 of the pseudo-pregnancy, but with 20 hours' cultured blastocysts it is better to use recipients on day 4. Exposure to 1.5 M DMSO has no harmful effect, provided that the DMSO is added at 5 degrees C in 6 steps and is removed, again in 6 steps, at 35 degrees C. The crystallization of the medium containing the embryos at -5 degrees C to -6 degrees C doet not appear te have a harmful influence on culture results of the blastocysts.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Veterinary Obstetrics, AI and Reproduction, State University of Utrecht, De Uithof, Utrecht.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hoogenkamp
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology*; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D003451:Cryoprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D046149:Embryo Culture Techniques / Q000662:veterinary*; D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D005615:Freezing; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice / Q000196:embryology*
chemical_list: D003451:Cryoprotective Agents; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide