This study was carried out to select the best cryoprotectant and to establish optimal concentration of the cryoprotectant in ultrarapid freezing of mouse 4-cell embryos and morulae, respectively. We investigated survival of ultrarapid frozen embryos according to various cryoprotectants such as glycerol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Suvival of the embryos frozen at different concentrations (3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 M) of indivisual cryoprotectant was also tested. Preimplantation developmental rate (96.3%, 83/86) of 4-cell mouse embryos treated with 4.0 M ethylene glycol after ultrarapid freezing and thawing was higher than those of other cryoprotectants (glycerol, propylene glycol and DMSO). In the ultrarapid freezing of mouse morulae, the highest developmental rate (98.8%, 89 /90) of the embryos to blastocysts was shown in the group of 5.0 M glycerol. Thus, these results demonstrate that 4.0 M ethylene glycol and 5.0 M glycerol are optimal for ultrarapid freezing of 4-cell mouse embryos and morulae, respectively.

The efficient cryopreservation of embryos requires optimal times of dehydration and rehydration This study was carried out to investigate the effect of various times of dehydration and rehydration The effects were evaluated through testing morphological normality and developmental ability of 1 cell mouse embryos which were ultrarapidly frozen and thawed. The 1 cell embryos were dehydrated for 1.5, 3, 5, and 10 minutes using mPBS-BSA containing 3.SM DMSO and 0.25M sucrose on cooling chamber or on ice. After ultrarapidly frozen and thawed, they were rehydrated for 0, 0.5 and 5 minutes with mPBS-BSA containing 0.25M sucrose at room temperature. The results obtained were as follows: The embryos that were rehydrated for 0.5 minutes showed higher normality than the embryos for 0 and 5 minutes did. The embryos that were dehydrated for 10 minutes showed higher normality than the embryos for 1.5, 3, and 5 minutes did. The developmental ability of normal thawed-embryos was high in 10 minute dehydration treatment compared to other treatments. However, it was not affected by cooling methods (on ice and on cooling chamber) for embryo dehydration.

The object of this study was to evaluate the effect of uterine epithelial cells on development of Korean native cattle(KNC) oocytes fertilized in vitro. Qocytes were collected from ovaries of slaughtered Korean Native Cows and matured in TCM199 with granulosa cells supplemented with 10% FBS, 5g/ml FSH, 10 JU/ml hCG, and 1g/ml estradiol-17 for 24 hrs. For co-culture of in vitro development of fertilized ova, oviductal epithelial cells (ll0˚cells /ml) obtained from slaughtered cow and uterine epithelial cells(110˚cells /ml) flushed from the superovulated holstein on Day 7 were incubated in 39, 5% , 95% air. Frozen-thawed KNC sperm was capacitated with BO(Brackett & Oliphant, 1975) medium supplemented with 10mM, 5mM-caffein. Matured oocytes were inseminated for 20 hrs. And then fertilized oocytes were washed with culture medium and transferred to oviductal epithelial cells for in vitro development and three days later a portion of embryos were transferred to uterine epithelial cells. Stastical methods of developmental rates on KNC-IVF oocytes was ANOVA-test. Developmental rates of KNC-IVF oocytes was significant higher(P<0.01) when co-cul-tured with uterine epithelial cells(25.2%) than oviductal epithelial cells. Blatocyst cul-tured for 7 to 9 days were frozen by automatic freezer with 1.4M glycerol-PBS. Survival rates of blastocyst was 40.0%. Fourteen frozen-thawed blastocysts were transferred to five holstein heifers on day 7 after natural estrus. Three recipients were observed twin and one recipient was single by ultra-sound systems on days 45 after embryo transfer.

다배란 수정란이식(MOET)과 체외수정(IVF)기술을 이용한 육종체계에서 예상되는 유전적 개량량을 여러 집단의 크기에서 비교한 결과 체외수정기술이 MOET육종기술보다 특히 개량대상 유전력이 낮을때 훨씬 효율적으로 나타났다. 그러나 유전력이 높아지면 (h=0.3, 0.5), MOET와 IVF간의 상대적 차이는 미진하게 나타났다. 체외수정을 이용한 육종기술에서 암컷의 선발 강도는 대단히 높일 수 있는 반면 난자의 회수율이 많을수록 상대적으로 수컷에 대한 선

The experiments reported here take advantage of the large number of in vitro matured and in vitro fertilized(IVM /IVF) bovine oocytes which can be produced, permitting the design of controlled experiments to establish a simple defined medium for the study of early embryo requirements. A total of 1,386 IVM /IVF oocytes were used to compare a simple defined medium(KSOM) with more complex culture conditions used successfully for culture of bovine embryos but do not permit study of specific requirements. All experiments were extensively replicated factorials. In Experiment 1, KSOM was superior to Menezo B medium in producing morulae plus blastocysts from IVM /IVF oocytes(33 vs 20%, P<0.()5). The yield of morulae plus blastocysts with KSOM was 22% and with BRLC added was 30%. In Experiment 2, (a 2x2 factorial of KSOM with or without BRLC and 0, 1 ng /ml of platelet derived growth factor, PDGF) more morulae plus blastocysts (40%) were produced in KSOM-BRLC co-culture containing 1 ng /ml PDGF than in the control KSOM(12%). In Experiment 3, there was no dose response when 0, 1 and 5 ng /ml of PDGF were added. The results with simple defined KSOM medium are sufficiently promising to indicate that specific requirements of the embryo may be examined in future studies with KSOM as a base.

The present study was carried out to develop a cloning technology of mouse embryos by nuclear transplantation with electrofusion and to produce cloned offsprings by transfer of reconstituted embryos. A single nucleus from two- and eight-cell embryos was transplanted into the enucleated two-cell embryos by rnicromanipulation. The fusion of nucleus with recipient cytoplasm and the subsequent development of reconstituted embryos in vitro as well as in vivo to term were examined to determine the optimal electrofusion parameters for nuclear transplantation in mouse embryos. The successful enucleation of donor embryos was 84.9 and 83.3% in two- and eight-cell stage, respectively, and the successful injection of nucleus from two- and eight-cell donor embryos into the perivitelline space of enucleated two-cell embryos were 85.1 and 84.7%, respectively. No significant differences were found in enucleation or injection rate between the cell stages of donor embryos. When the blastomeres of intact two-cell mouse embryos were electrofused in 0.3 M mannitol medium(100 sec., 3 pulses), the fusion rate was similarly 93.2, 92.2 and 92.0% in 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 kV /crn, respectively, but in vitro development to blastocyst of the fused two-cell embryos was significantly(P<0.05) lower in 2.0 kV/cm (63.4%) than in 1.0 kV/cm (91.7%) or 1.5 kV/cm (82.4%). The development in vitro to eight-cell stage of the reconstituted embryos with nucleus from two-cell stage(45.5%) was significantly(P<0.05) higher than that from eight-cell stage blastomeres (16.7%). The number of blastomeres of the intact embryos at blastocyst stage was 50i0.6 and 552.4 in in vitro and in vivo cultured mouse embryos, respectively, but significantly(P<0.05) decreased to 350.7 in nuclear transplanted blastocyst embryos. The conception rate of mice following embryo transfer was 32.1% in the reconstituted two-cell embryos using two-cell donor nuclei, which was comparable to the fresh two-cell embryos(40.6%). However, the rate of development in vivo to term following embryo transfer of the reconstituted two-cell embryos using two-cell donor nuclei (23.5%) was significantly(P<0.05) lower compared with the percentage of two-cell fresh embryos(31.5%).

In order to improve the cryopreservatory techniques of livestock embryos, the quick freezing method which is directly plunged in liquid nitrogen via prefreezing procedure without freezing machine was carried out for mouse embryos treated with permeable and nonpermeable cryoprotectants. The viability of frozen-thawed embryos were evaluated by FDA vital dye test. The results obtained was summaried as follows: 1. A total of 720 embryos were recovered from frozen embryos for viability test. Evalution of the fluorescein diacetate(FDA) vital dye test with mice embryos were resulted of 2.3 total mean score - evaluted in orderly higher mean grade of P3 453 (63%), P2 133(18%), P1 51(7%) and P0 83(12%). 2. An all-round evalution of these combination, the highest viability was showed in 3M ethylene glycol + 0. 25M trehalose treated with the copper prefreezing. 3. Effects of permeable and nonpermeable cryoprotectants combination were evaluated by means FDA score. 3M ethylene glycol + 0.25M trehalose showed the highest survival rates of 2.8 mean FDA score. 4. Effects of permeable cryoprotectants were evaluated by mean FDA score but the results were not significantly different each other. 5. In evalution of the nonpermeable cryoprotectants, 0. 25M trehalose obtalned higher mean FDA score than of 0.25M sucrose and it was significantly different(P<0.05). 6. There was no significantly difference between copper and stainless-steel in prefreezing procedures.

To examine the critical effect of oxygen concentration on embryonic development, in vitro fertilized embryos were cultured in media(TCM199 vs. SOF) supplemented sera(1O% FCS vs. 10% HS) with and without bovine oviduct epithelial cells under two gas atmosphere (5% in air vs. 5% , 5% , 90% ). Oocytes, obtained from abattoir ovaries, were matured in EGF containing TCM199 medium co-cultured with BOEC for 24 hours, followed by exposure to frozen-thawed, heparin4reated spermatozoa in TALP for 30 hours. And then early embryos(1~2 cell) were cultured in both TCM199 and SOF supplemented with 10% FCS or 10% RS under 5% in air or 5% COi, 5% , 90% . Development to morulae and blastocysts was recorded on days 7, after the start of in vitro fertilization. The developmental rates of in vitro fertilized embryos to morulae and blastocysts cultured in SOF with BOEC under 5% , 5% , 90% (24.4%) were significantly(p<0.05) higher than cultured in SOF with BOEC under 5% in air(14.1%) at seven days after in vitro fertilization. When early bovine embryos were cultured in TCM 199 and SOF under two different gas atmosphere, there were no significant differences in the developmental rates to morulae and blastocysts between supplements of 10% FCS and 10% HS. The rates of development to morulae and blastocysts were significantly(p<0.01) higher in TCM 199 with BOEC(24.7%) than TCM199 without BOEC(10.9%) under 5% in air, otherwise SOF without BOEC(36.4%) were significantly (p<0.05) higher than in SOF with BOEC (24.4%) under 5% , 5% , 90% . In summary, these experiments have proved that the culture system in SOF supplemented 10% ES is effective on in vitro development of early bovine embryos under 5% , 5% , 90% . In addition, it is effective to development of bovine embryos that TCM 199 should be co-cultured with BOEC and SOF should be cultured without somatic cells under two different gas atmosphere.