Effect of Embryo Number and Incubation Volume on the Development of Pre- and Post-implantation Mouse Embryos In Vitro

배아밀도와 배양액 용량이 착상전후의 생쥐배아의 체외 성장에 미치는 영향

The effects of embryo number and incubation volume on the development of mouse embryos were evaluated. The growth rate of two-cell mouse embryos to attached blastocyst stage and the growth rate of blastocysts to early somite stage were assessed after culture in different incubation volumes and embryo densities. Embryos were collected from ICR female mice superovulated with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin and human chorionic gonadotropin and mated by ICR males. In experiment 1, groups of one, five, ten, twenty 2-cell embryos were cultured in 10-, 50-, 500-, 1000-${\mu}l$ drops of BWW media under mineral oil at $37^{\circ}C$ in a humidified atmosphere of 5% $CO_{2}$ and 95% air. As the incubation volume decreased, significantly (p<0.05) higher rates of embryos reached morular and blastocyst stage on day 3 and 4 culture, respectively. In experiment 2, groups of one, five, ten, twenty blastocysts were cultured in 1- and 2-ml volumes of CMRL 1066 media under same condition as in experiment 1. However the reverse was the result. Decreasing the number of embryos incubated per volume from 1 to 20 significantly (p<0.05) increased the number of blastocysts reaching the late egg cylinder (LEC) and early somite (ES) stage on day 6 and 8 culture, respectively, regardless of incubation volume. Blastocysts cultured in 2ml had higher (p<0.05) development rates to LEC and ES stage on day 6 and 8 culture, respectively, than embryos cultured in 1ml. Our results suggest that the effects of embryo number and incubation volume on the development of mouse embryos are stage specific and the shifting point was between hatching and EEC stage.