the effect of culture medium volume on in vitro development of mouse embryos

background: in the field of mammalian embryo culture, the putative influence of autocrine/ paracrine factor(s), produce by the embryos itself, is under investigation. a smaller medium drop can prevent dilution of this factor(s). objective: the objective of this study was to examine the effect of culture medium volume on in vitro development of mouse 2-cell embryos. materials and methods: the embryos were obtained from female nmri mice. to evaluate the effect of medium volume, groups of 16-20 late 2-cell embryos were cultured in 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 �l of drops of ham�s f10 medium for 72 h. results: development to blastocyst stage in 50 and 100 �l of drop were significantly higher than this in any other volume (p<0.001). almost a similar pattern was also observed for hatched blastocyst formation. however, the total number of cells in blastocysts, developing in different volumes, were not significantly different. conclusion: these results indicate that the optimal volumes of ham�s f10 medium for mouse early embryo development are 50 to 100 �l. however, volumes as small as 2 �l can successfully support mouse 2-cell embryo development to blastocyst and hatching stages.