title: The effects of Vitamin A administration on the development of vitrified-warmed mouse blastocyst.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the development of vitrified-warmed mouse blastocysts following a period of Vitamin A administration. Four to six weeks old BALB/c mice were given an intraperitoneal injection of either 0.1 ml paraffin oil alone (control, Con) or paraffin oil containing 250IU of Vitamin A (experiment, Exp). Ten days later the mice were given second paraffin or paraffin Vitamin A injection and an injection of 10IU equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) followed 48 h later by 10IU human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Blastocysts were collected from both groups and randomly divided into non-vitrified (Con 1, Exp 1) and vitrified (Con 2, Exp 2) subgroups. Embryos in the vitrified group were exposed sequentially to two solutions (10% ethylene glycol, 10% DMSO in holding medium (HM: DMEMF(12)+10% FBS) and 20% ethylene glycol, 20% DMSO in HM) before plunging into liquid nitrogen. After warming at 37 degrees C, cryoprotectants were diluted serially with 0.25 and 0.15M sucrose solution in HM. The vitrified-warmed and the fresh embryos of the control and the experiment groups were cultured in DMEMF(12) with 10% FBS for 72 h. Although, on the first day of culture, the rate of development to the hatched blastocyst was nearly identical between the two vitrified groups (15.8% versus 13%) but after 48 h, the rate of plated embryos was statistically higher in the vitrified Vitamin A than the vitrified control group (63.1% versus 19.6%, P<0.001). After 48 h, in the non-vitrified groups, the rate of the plated embryos was also significantly higher in the Vitamin A than the control group (70.5% versus 49.3%, P<0.01). These data provided evidence that systemic administration of Vitamin A may enhance the potential development of blastocysts in culture and is capable to reduce the adverse effects of vitrification at least during the first 2 days of cultivation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Bahonar University, 7616914111 Kerman, Iran. Babaei_H@mail.uk.ac.ir
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Babaei
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Nematallahi-Mahani
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kheradmand
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D003451:Cryoprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011247:Pregnancy; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D003451:Cryoprotective Agents; D014801:Vitamin A