Abstract
To identify an in vitro culture procedure which can be used to assess porcine in vitro fertilized embryos, three culture systems were examined. A total of 103 in vivo fertilized zygotes were co-cultured in modified BMOC-3 medium with granulosa cells, or in modified BMOC-2 with oviduct cells, and 35 were cultured in Whitten's medium supplemented with 1.5% BSA. After 8 days in culture, 66.0 and 73.6% of the co-cultured zygotes, and 51.4% of the zygotes cultured in the modified Whitten's medium developed to blastocyst stage. In contrast, only 20.5% (18/88) and 1.4% (9/627) of in vitro fertilized zygotes derived from in vivo and in vitro matured oocytes developed to blastocysts in the co-culture with modified BMOC-3 and granulosa cells. It is concluded that the culture systems examined are competent to support development of porcine zygotes to blastocysts and evaluate in vitro fertilized porcine embryos.
