title: Individual commitment to a group effect: strengths and weaknesses of bovine embryo group culture.
abstract: Recently, new culture devices such as Corral and Primo Vision dishes have been designed for the culture of human embryos to allow the combination of group culture plus follow-up of individual embryos. Bovine inseminated oocytes were allocated to Primo Vision dishes, Corral dishes, individual culture or classical group culture. Blastocyst development in Primo Vision dishes was similar to classical group culture (34.3 and 39.0% respectively), and better than Corral dishes or individual culture (28.9 and 28.5% respectively). In Primo Vision dishes, a higher number of 'slow' embryos developed to the blastocyst stage compared with their individually cultured counterparts, while no differences were observed for 'fast' embryos. 'Slow' embryos in a 'standard drop' had a higher chance of becoming a blastocyst compared with individual culture (OR: 2.3), whereas blastulation of 'fast' embryos was less efficient in a 'delayed drop' than in individual culture (OR: 0.3). The number of non-cleaved embryos in Primo Vision dishes did not negatively influence blastocyst development. Likewise, removing non-cleaved embryos (NC removed) and regrouping the cleaved embryos afterwards (ReGR) did not affect blastocyst development and quality compared with group culture in Primo Vision dishes (CTRL, 31.6%, NC removed, 29.3% and ReGR, 29.6%). The experiments revealed that group culture of bovine embryos in Primo Vision dishes is superior to individual culture, primarily because of the higher blastocyst rate achieved by slow embryos. Non-cleaved or arrested embryos do not hamper the ability of co-cultured bovine embryos to reach the blastocyst stage in group culture.
authors.affiliation: Department of ReproductionObstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Eline Wydooghe, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, BelgiumAnimal Sciences UnitInstitute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), B-9090 Melle, BelgiumDepartment of Reproductive MedicineUniversity Hospital, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium Eline.Wydooghe@Ugent.be.
authors.forename: Eline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wydooghe
authors.affiliation: Department of ReproductionObstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Eline Wydooghe, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, BelgiumAnimal Sciences UnitInstitute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), B-9090 Melle, BelgiumDepartment of Reproductive MedicineUniversity Hospital, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Leen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vandaele
authors.affiliation: Department of ReproductionObstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Eline Wydooghe, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, BelgiumAnimal Sciences UnitInstitute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), B-9090 Melle, BelgiumDepartment of Reproductive MedicineUniversity Hospital, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Piepers
authors.affiliation: Department of ReproductionObstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Eline Wydooghe, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, BelgiumAnimal Sciences UnitInstitute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), B-9090 Melle, BelgiumDepartment of Reproductive MedicineUniversity Hospital, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dewulf
authors.affiliation: Department of ReproductionObstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Eline Wydooghe, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, BelgiumAnimal Sciences UnitInstitute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), B-9090 Melle, BelgiumDepartment of Reproductive MedicineUniversity Hospital, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Van den Abbeel
authors.affiliation: Department of ReproductionObstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Eline Wydooghe, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, BelgiumAnimal Sciences UnitInstitute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), B-9090 Melle, BelgiumDepartment of Reproductive MedicineUniversity Hospital, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De Sutter
authors.affiliation: Department of ReproductionObstetrics and Herd Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Eline Wydooghe, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, BelgiumAnimal Sciences UnitInstitute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), B-9090 Melle, BelgiumDepartment of Reproductive MedicineUniversity Hospital, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Soom
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology*; D002417:Cattle; D018920:Coculture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000662:veterinary*; D046149:Embryo Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000662:veterinary*; D047108:Embryonic Development; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000662:veterinary; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D013997:Time Factors