In Vitro Culture of Rat Preimplantation Embryos

The rat is one the most widely used laboratory animal species in many aspects of biomedical research, including the production of genetically engineered animal models to study human diseases and conditions. In addition to in vitro fertilization (IVF), the ability to grow IVF-derived or in vivo-collected zygotes to a desired preimplantation stage (zygote to blastocyst) entirely in vitro has a great importance for studies of developmental biology and genetic modification of laboratory rats for biomedical research. Although embryo biotechnologies are required to study or manipulate the genome effectively, such technologies for rat preimplantation embryos are not currently as successful as they are in the mouse. Here we provide a brief history of the development of rat in vitro culture systems and a step-by-step protocol to produce rat blastocyst stage embryos from zygotes under in vitro conditions from commonly used laboratory rat strains in biomedical research.

N, N-Dimethylglycine decreases oxidative stress and improves in vitro development of bovine embryos

The antioxidant effect of N, N-dimethylglycine (DMG) on in vitro-produced (IVP) bovine embryos was examined. After in vitro fertilization, presumptive zygotes were cultured with or without 0.1 μM DMG under different oxygen tensions. The percentage of embryos developing to the blastocyst stage was lowest under a 20% oxygen concentration without DMG, and it was significantly increased (P < 0.05) by applying a 5% oxygen concentration. Under the 20% oxygen concentration, supplementation of the medium with DMG significantly improved blastocyst development, which was nearly equal to that achieved under 5% oxygen without DMG. Furthermore, a tendentious increase (P = 0.06) in blastocyst cell numbers was observed when DMG was applied. In the second experiment, addition of H₂O₂ (0.5 mM) to the culture medium significantly (P < 0.01) reduced the percentage of embryos developing to the blastocyst stage. However, DMG supplementation prevented this reduction. In conclusion, DMG enhanced the in vitro development of IVP bovine embryos by acting as an antioxidant.

Understanding mechanism of in vitro maturation, fertilization and culture of sheep embryoes through in silico analysis

Protein interations are presently required to understand the mechanisms of in vitro maturation, fertilization and culture of sheep embryoes through in silico analysis. The present work has been conducted on TCM-199 supplemented with epidermal growth factor (EGF), fetal bovine serum (FBS) or wheat peptones The maturation rate of oocyte was significantly higher in the FBS supplemented group when compared with BSA and wheat peptone supplemented groups. The in silico protein interaction studies has shown that the proteins EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), CCK (cholecystokinin)- a peptide hormone, Alb - a serum albumin, ESR- estrogen receptor 1, TGFA- transforming growth factor, STAT- signal transducer and FN1- fibronectin 1 has direct interaction and produces cell growth in in vitro culture. Alb is directly activates EGF and promotes MAPK3 that mediates diverse biological functions such as cell growth, adhesion and proliferation. Alb may also involve in stress response signalling and may be in cell cycle control.

Effect of culture conditions on viability of mouse and rat embryos developed in vitro

Currently in vitro culture of mouse preimplantation embryos has become a very important technique to investigate different mechanisms of early embryogenesis. However, there is a big difference in the preimplantation development between mammalian species. Despite close relatedness to mice, in vitro cultivation of rat preimplantation embryos is still delicate and needs further investigation and optimizations. In this study we have compared the in vitro developmental potential of mouse and rat embryos cultured at different culture conditions in parallel experiments. Interestingly, mouse zygotes developed in vitro until blastocyst stage even in inadequate medium without any phosphates and with low osmolarity which was formulated especially for cultivation of rat embryos. Rat parthenotes and zygotes developed in M16 medium formulated for mouse embryos only till 2-cell stage and further development is blocked completely at this stage. Moreover, developmental ability of rat embryos in vitro was significantly lower in comparison with mouse even in special rat mR1ECM medium. Mouse and rat embryos at 2-cell stage obtained in vivo developed until blastocyst stages significantly more efficiently compared to zygotes. Culture of mouse zygotes in glass capillaries resulted in a significantly higher rate of morula and blastocyst development compared with dishes. The Well-of-the-Well system resulted in a significant improvement when compared with dishes for the culture of rat zygotes only until morula stage. Reduced oxygen tension increased the developmental rate of rat but not mouse zygotes until blastocyst stage. This study demonstrates that development of early preimplantation embryos is altered by different culture conditions and show strong differences even between two related species such as mice and rats. Therefore, for understanding the fundamental mechanisms of early mammalian development it is very important to use embryos of various species.

Superovulatory response, oocyte spontaneous activation, and embryo development in WMN/Nrs inbred rats

WMN/Nrs inbred rats have been widely used in radiation biology for years. However, their reproductive profile has never been examined. We examined various reproductive characteristics of WMN/Nrs inbred rats such as superovulatory response, oocytes spontaneous activation (OSA), and embryo development in vitro and in vivo. Superovulation was induced in 3- to 9-week-old females by injection of 150 IU/kg PMSG and 150 IU/Kg hCG by 48 h apart. Only 8- and 9-week-old animals superovulated averaging 31.4 and 43.9 oocytes, respectively, and superovulation did not depend on estrous cycle. Animals 3-7 weeks of age did not superovulate. Because Wistar strains have been known to show a high incidence of OSA, factors expected to affect OSA in WMN/Nrs, including the time interval of various steps from euthanasia to oocyte recovery, incubation media, estrous cycle, and anesthetic treatments, were examined. The time from animal euthanasia to oviduct excision was the only factor shown to affect OSA. We also compared in vitro and in vivo embryo developmental competence between embryos obtained by natural ovulation and superovulation. Although percent in vitro development of 2-cell embryos to blastocysts was similar for embryos obtained by natural ovulation (63.7%) and superovulation (69.7%), fetus development after oviductal transfer of 2-cell embryos was significantly lower in embryos obtained by superovulation than in those obtained by natural ovulation (60.2% vs. 87.5%, P=0.02). Our results provide important normative data regarding future applications of rat assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) such as in vitro fertilization and cryopreservation in WMN/Nrs strain and may be applicable to other strains of laboratory rats.