Effect of Mitogens, Supplement of β-mercaptoethanol and Fetal Bovine Serum Supplementation in Whole Blood Culture Medium for Bovine Chromosome Analysis

We investigated the effects of the mitogen supplements of 3 types, pokeweed mitogen (PWM), phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A (ConA), to a whole blood culture system on the number of metaphase spreads obtained in perinatal bovine chromosome analysis. In addition, the supplementation of ${\beta}$-mercaptoethanol (${\beta}$-ME) and FBS was examined in such system. Significant differences (p<0.05) were seen in the number of metaphase spreads with PHA stimulation compared to both PWM and ConA stimulation. When examined the effects of ${\beta}$-ME supplementation, the number of metaphase spreads was significantly (p<0.05) increased at $30{\mu}M$ ${\beta}$-ME compared to control. When evaluated FBS supplementation during PWM stimulation, no significant effect of the supplementation was found. Finally, the effects of the cortisol concentration (10-20, 20-30 and >30 ng/ml) of the blood samples were examined. There was no significant effect of cortisol concentration (p>0.05) among these 3 cortisol concentration groups. The mean percentages of normal metaphase plates (2n=60) from each calf 1) with ${\beta}$-ME, 2) without ${\beta}$-ME and 3) with FBS stimulated with PWM were not significantly different (p>0.05). In conclusion, these findings may be useful in cytogenetic screening programs for not only perinatal calves but also for mature cattle.