The Effects of Vero Cell Co-culture on Mouse Embryo Development.
- Author:
Yoon LEE
;
June Hong PARK
;
He Na KANG
;
Yong Bong KIM
;
Eung Soo LEE
;
Sung Kwan PARK
- Publication Type:In Vitro ; Original Article
- MeSH:
Animals;
Cercopithecus aethiops;
Coculture Techniques*;
Culture Media;
Embryo Transfer;
Embryonic Development*;
Embryonic Structures*;
Female;
Humans;
Kidney;
Mice*;
Mice, Inbred ICR;
Pregnancy;
Uterus;
Vero Cells*
- From:Korean Journal of Fertility and Sterility
1997;24(2):233-239
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
Embryos of most mammalian species grown in vitro would undergo developmental arrest at the approximate time of genomic activation. Stage-specific cell block and the resulting rapid loss of embryo viability in conventional culture media have limited the duration for which embryos may be cultured prior to transfer. As a result, embryos are usually transferred to the uterus at the 4-to 8-cell stage to avoid the loss of viability associated with long-term in vitro culture. Early transfer has led to asynchrony of the endometrium-trophectoderm interaction at the time of implantation and a resultant reduction in the rate of implantation. To overcome these problems, a variety of co-culture systems has been devised in which embryos can develop for a longer period prior to embryo transfer. Vero cells, derived from African green monkey kidney, share a common embryologic origin with cells from the genital tract. In addition, they are potentially safe to use, since they are highly controlled for viruses and other contaminants. Therefore, co-culture using Vero cells has been widely utilized to enhance embryo viability and development, although not without controversies. We thus designed a series of experiments to demonstrate whether Vero cells do indeed enhance mouse embryo development as well as to compare the efficacy of co-culturing mouse 1-cell embryos on Vero cell monolayer in both Ham's F-10 and human tubal fluid (HTF) culture media. 1-cell stage ICR mouse embryos were cultured either in the presence of Vero cells (Group A) or in conventional culture medium alone (Group B). In Ham's F-10 significantly more 3-to-8cell embryos developed in group A than group B (59.8 versus 10.0%; F<0.01). In contrast, there was no significant difference in embryonic development both group A and group B in HTF. However, significant differences were noted only in later embryonic stage (13 and 0%; p<0.05 of group A and B respectively, hatching or hatched). In Ham's F-10, we also could observe the beneficial effect of Vero cell on hatching process (70.7 and 42.1%; p<0.05 of group A and group B respectively).
