The invitro block to development and initiation of transcription in early equine embryos Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Coculture of early cleavagestage equine embryos with other cell types, primarily oviductal epithelial cells, can support development to blastocysts in vitro. Embryos cultured in complex medium without cellular support develop at a significantly poorer rate and appear to undergo a developmental block in vitro. In 2 experiments, 18cell embryos (n = 15) were cultured in Ham's F12: Dulbecco's MEM for 5 days or until morphological degeneration occurred. Embryos were assessed for stage of development and quality score on a daily basis. At the end of culture, embryos were stained to determine the number of nuclei present or were fixed and sectioned for evaluation by light microscopy. Additional embryos (n = 8) collected on Days 27 after ovulation were labelled with [3H]uridine and incorporation was determined by autoradiography. Of 15 embryos cultured without cellular support, 3 reached the morula stage and the remaining 12 embryos cleaved to the 816cell stage before undergoing morphological degeneration. [3H]uridine was incorporated into embryos at the 8cell stage or later, but no incorporation was detected in embryos at the 4cell stage. These results indicate that early equine embryos appear to undergo a developmental block in vitro at the 816cell stage, relief of which is temporally associated with the onset of embryonic transcription. 1993 EVJ Ltd

published proceedings

  • Equine Veterinary Journal

author list (cited authors)

  • BALL, B. A., IGNOTZ, G. G., BRINSKO, S. P., THOMAS, P., MILLER, P. G., ELLINGTON, J. E., & CURRIE, W. B.

citation count

  • 10

complete list of authors

  • BALL, BA||IGNOTZ, GG||BRINSKO, SP||THOMAS, PGA||MILLER, PG||ELLINGTON, JE||CURRIE, WB

publication date

  • January 1993

publisher