Effects of Medium Enrichment with Amino Acids on the Results of in vitro Embryo Culture and Embryo Transfer in Mice
摘要
The widespread use of modern reproductive technologies inmedicine stimulates the improvement of in vitro culture systemsfor preimplantation embryos. The question of whether to choose relativelysimple media or media enriched with amino acids, vitamins, and othercomponents for embryo culture is not only of practical importancefor reproductive medicine but also crucial for designing adequate experimentsin mice. This study compared the effects of short-term in vitroculture of C57BL/6 mouse embryos in a simple medium (KSOM) and an aminoacid-enriched medium (KSOMaa) on the rates of in vitro developmentand implantation frequency after embryo transfer, as well as onthe body weight in offspring during the suckling period. No differencesin the rates of in vitro development were found when cleavage-stagemouse embryos were cultured for 27 h in either media, which maybe due to the short duration of the procedure. After 27 h of in vitroculture in both media, the majority of embryos reached the blastocyststage. However, some of them were developmentally delayed and remainedat the compact-morula stage, while some degraded. Meanwhile, differenceswere observed during the subsequent in vivo development of suchembryos. After embryo transfer, implantation occurred more frequentlyin embryos cultured in vitro in the amino acid-enriched KSOMaa medium.During the suckling period, the body weight in offspring did notdiffer between the groups. Thus, enrichment of a culture mediumwith amino acids during a relatively short-term in vitro cultureof cleavage-stage mouse embryos increases the implantation rateafter embryo transfer.