Abstract
The incorporation and oxidation of glucose and pyruvate were compared when embryos were cultured in M16 medium and M16 plus EDTA. In both culture conditions the incorporation and oxidation of glucose increased a little but then significantly decreased by 40 and 45 h after hCG injection. On the other hand, the incorporation and oxidation of pyruvate increased with the development of embryos, was reduced at the blastocyst stage, but had not significantly decreased by 40 and 45 h after hCG injection. After mouse embryos were cultured for 6 h in M16 medium, the incorporation and oxidation of glucose and pyruvate were significantly decreased compared with culture in M16 plus EDTA at 40, 45 and 50 h after hCG injection. These results suggest that EDTA had the ability to maintain a large degree of viability of mouse embryos for further development.
