title: Administration of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug tolfenamic acid at embryo transfer improves maintenance of pregnancy and embryo survival in recipient mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effect of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs tolfenamic acid and flunixin meglumine in pregnancy rate and embryo survival of recipient mice subjected to embryo transfer.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 142 recipient females were transferred with 2,931 embryos and treated with a single injection of tolfenamic acid (1 mg/kg; n = 54 females with 1,129 embryos), flunixin meglumine (2.5 mg/kg; n = 46 females with 942 embryos), or bi-distilled water (10 mL/kg) as control group (n = 42 females with 860 embryos). Pregnancy was checked 2 weeks after embryo transfer, delivery was registered on the due date, and litter size was recorded on Day 7 after birth.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pregnancy rate of tolfenamic acid treated females was significantly higher than flunixin group (P < 0.05) and showed a tendency to be higher when compared to the control group (P = 0.06). The number of pups born from transferred embryos in pregnant females was significantly higher for both treatment groups compared to controls (P < 0.05). Number of pups from total transferred embryos was higher for both treatment groups (P < 0.05) when compared to controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of tolfenamic acid at the time of embryo transfer improves both pregnancy rate and number of live pups in recipient mice, with optimal effects observed with flunixin meglumine. We suggest that the use of tolfenamic acid has beneficial effects on the maintenance of pregnancy and embryo survival in recipient mice, which should be taken into account for further studies in other mammalian females.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Animales Transgénicos y de Experimentación, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Mataojo 2020, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay, gschlapp@pasteur.edu.uy.
authors.forename: Geraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schlapp
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goyeneche
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Alejo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Menchaca
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crispo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001723:Birth Rate; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003002:Clonixin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D062367:ortho-Aminobenzoates / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D062367:ortho-Aminobenzoates; C009500:tolfenamic acid; C014558:flunixin meglumine; D003002:Clonixin