BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of vitrification on morpho-functional parameters (blastomere/chromatin integrity and bioenergy/oxidative potential) of mouse preimplantation embryos. METHODS In vivo produced mouse (4/16-cell, morulae and blastocyst-stage) embryos were randomly divided into vitrification and control groups. For vitrification, embryos were exposed to...

The objective of this study was to investigate the role of the POU family transcription factor, Oct-4, in the early development of porcine embryos. We attempted Oct-4 downregulation of porcine early embryos by RNA interference, and evaluated Oct-4 suppression of developmental competencies and gene transcripts in porcine embryos. Injection of specific siRNA resulted in a distinct decrease in Oct...

The purpose of the present study was to determine the chronology of the pre-implantation embryonic development in Myocastor coypus (coypu). It was carried out by daily colpocytological examination and controlled mating of 33 females. Oocytes and embryos were obtained by flushing from day 0 to day 10 post-coitus (p.c.). On day 1 p.c., oocytes predominated whereas on day 2 p.c. zygotes were predo...

The origin of the early embryonic loss that occurs during the first 4 days after mating in Californian doe-rabbits has been studied at 24 h or 60 h post coitum (p.c.). For comparison, 11 New Zealand doe-rabbits were slaughtered at the same times. The development stage of the embryo was determined after examination in toto at 24 h or by counting the morula nuclei at 60 h on histological sections...

The effect of modified vitrification was assessed on cellular development capability in mouse embryos cultured in vitro. In this study, 466 embryos (from zygote to morula stages) were vitrified then thawed embryos have been incubated for in vitro farther development up to blastocyst stage. Also, vitrification and thawing procedures were the same for all experimental groups. Mouse different embr...

Evaluation of quality and viability of bovine and rabbit preimplantation embryos following cryopreservation was the objective of this study. Bovine embryos of Holstein breed (n = 88) at the morula-early blastocyst stage (on the 7 day after the first insemination) and rabbit embryos (n = 135) from New Zealand breed at the morula stage (90–92 hpc) were cryopreserved by the two-step vitrification ...

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are useful for the study of embryonic development. However, since research on naturally conceived human embryos is limited, non-human primate (NHP) embryos and NHP ESCs represent an excellent alternative to the corresponding human entities. Though, ESC lines derived from naturally conceived NHP embryos are still very rare. Here, we report the generation and character...

Background: In somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) method of cloning, transferred nucleus should be dedifferentiated from differentiated state to embryonic state. Molecular analysis showed that the reprogramming in the transferred nucleus was incomplete and cloned embryos have epigenetic abnormalities such as high DNA methylations levels. Since methylation in pre-implantation embryos has a cri...