Individual culture of in vitro produced bovine blastocysts

Abstract

In vitro produced bovine embryos were individually cultured from D7 to D9 to observe their development. Forty-nine blastocysts (early blastocyst, blastocyst and expanded blastocyst) were individually cultured, from D7 to D9 (D0= fertilization), in 50ml SOF medium plus 5% OCS. Between D7 and D8, blastocysts were cultured in straws (SC) or in plates (PC) and from D8 up to D9, they were cultured on plates. The ratio of early blastocyst, blastocyst, and expanded blastocyst advancing at least one stage of development were, respectively, 71%, 37%, 44% in PC and 100%, 66%, 36% in SC (P>;0.05). Overall development rates on D8 were not significantly different (P>;0.05) for PC (50%) and SC (60%). At D9, both culture systems produced similar (P>;0.05) hatching rates (29% and 24% for PC and SC, respectively). After fluorescent nuclei staining, the average number of cells counted in the hatched (182.7 vs. 202.8) and expanding (94.5 vs. 88.0) blastocysts were similar (P>;0.05) for PC and SC, respectively. In vitro produced bovine blastocysts can be individually cultured from D7 to D9, and the culture system employed (dishes or straws) has no effect on hatching rates and cell number of developed blastocysts.