title: Effect of the well of the well (WOW) system on in vitro culture for porcine embryos after intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
abstract: For developmental competence of porcine embryos in vitro, it is important to improve the culture environment. The present study was performed to evaluate four different culture systems for in vitro matured porcine oocytes following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI); drop, well and two sizes of the well of the well (WOW) systems (500 and 1,000 microm in diameter). The cleavage rate on Day 2 and the mean cell number in blastocysts on Day 6 were not significantly different among the four treatments. However, the 1,000 microm WOW (24.6%) resulted in a significantly higher (P<0.05) blastocyst rate than those in the other culture systems (12.9, 14.8, and 7.1% for drop, well, and 500 microm WOW, respectively). The present study indicates that the microenvironment created by the 1,000 microm diameter WOW improves blastocyst production of in vitro matured porcine oocytes after ICSI, and that the effectiveness of the WOW system is dependent on the size (diameter) of the WOW.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Mikiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taka
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iwayama
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukui
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D003470:Culture Media / Q000378:metabolism; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D047108:Embryonic Development; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic / Q000379:methods*; D013552:Swine; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media