Abstract
To develop an in vitro culture system for Mongolian gerbil embryos, we examined the effect of co-culture with oviductal epithelial cells on the development of 1- and 2-cell embryos collected from superovulated gerbils. In the first experiment, 2-cell embryos were cultured in modified TCM 199 supplemented with pyruvate, lactate and fetal calf serum (mTCM199) with or without gerbil or mouse oviductal cells. In the second experiment, in 1-cell embryos were cultured with or without gerbil oviductal cells in mTCM199. Although, 2-cell gerbil embryos did not develop beyond the 16-cell stage without oviductal cells in both TCM199 and mTCM199, co-culture with gerbil or mouse oviductal cells supported the development of 2-cell gerbil embryos to blastocysts. Co-culture with gerbil oviductal cells in mTCM199, but not in TCM199, also supported the development of 1-cell embryos to blastocysts. There were no differences between the in vivo and in vitro developed blastocysts in morphological appearance and cell numbers. This co-culture system can be used for in vitro culture of Mongolian gerbil embryos.
