Some effects of genotype and composition of the culture medium on the development of mouse zygotes in vitro

Abstract

The effects of EDTA and the presence of glucose and glutamine in CZB medium on the development of mouse zygotes of different genotype were investigated. Although 30-80% of zygotes (depending on the cross) passed the 2-cell stage in EDTA-free medium, the addition of a low concentration of EDTA was necessary in these experiments to obtain blastocysts in culture. In reciprocal crosses between outbred (Qs), inbred (DBA/2) and hybrid (B10D2F1) stock, there was evidence of a strong influence of the maternal genome on zygote development, with those from B10D2F1 females performing best irrespective of sire. A paternal influence on development was also evident but the most successful sire varied with the genotype of female used and reciprocal crosses differed greatly in the ability of the resultant zygote to develop in culture. For zygotes recovered from Qs females, CZB medium containing glucose and glutamine supported development to the blastocyst stage better than did medium devoid of these substrates. Tests with embryos from B10D2F1 females indicated that the presence of glucose for the whole or for part of the incubation period stimulated blastocyst development. However, the addition of glutamine to the medium in these tests had no significant effect on the development of blastocysts.