To improve the efficiency of in vitro production of embryos with follicular oocytes in Korean Native cows, the recovery rates, in vitro maturation, fertilization and development, and the time required for collecting and processing oocytes by aspiration with or without slicing were evaluated comparatively. The ovaries were obtained from a local abattoir and placed in physiological saline at 25~28 and brought to the laboratory within 3 hrs. The oocytes were collected by aspiration of follicles(2~6mm) with or without slicing ovaries after aspiration, and classified into Grade I, Grade II, Denuded, Expanded oocytes by the morphology of cumulus cells attached and the homogeneity of cytoplasmic granules. Also the time required for each step of collecting and processing oocytes were measured. The cumulus cells were removed in some Grade I oocytes to measure their size and nuclear configuration before and after in vitro maturation. The Grade I oocytes were matured in vitro(IVM) for 24 hrs. in TGM-199 supplemented with 35g /ml FSH, 10g /ml LH, 1 g /ml at 39 under 5% C02 in air. They were fertilized in vitro(IVF) by epididymal spermatozoa treated with heparin for 24hrs. and then the zygotes were cocultured in vitro (IVC) with bovine oviductal epithelial cells for 10 days. The results obtained were as follows: The number of oocytes recovered per ovary was averaged 6.6 by aspiration and 11.2 by slicing post aspiration, which summed to 17.8. The number of Grade I oocytes recovered per ovary was averaged 3.1 by aspiration and 3.6 by slicing, which summed to 6.7. The percentage of Grade I to total oocytes recovered was significantly(P<0.05) higher as 48.0 % in aspiration than 31.6% in slicing post aspiration. The time requlred for recovering a Grade I oocyte by aspiration and slicing was 1.1 and 2.5 min, respectively. The mean diameter of Grade I oocytes by aspiration and slicing was similar as 148.7 and 151.5m, respectively. The percentage of Metaphase II stage oocytes after IVM for 24 hours was significantly (P

This study was performed to establish the condition and the methods for the techniques of insertion the isolated blastomere cells into cytoplasm, in order to research the develop-mental ability of bovine embryo blastomere cells in vitro produced. After 24h in vitro ovary maturation with the ovaries from a slaughter house, in vitro fertilization was performed to the vital sperms which their mobility were decided by percoll gradient method, with 2~8 cell stage embryos, the blastomeres were isolated in +. +-free PBS, and following that embedded into agar and alginate solution, respectively. The rates of in vitro develop-ment are as follows ; in agar embedded 11 among 120(9.2%) 1 /2~1 /3 blastomers cleaved and 6 among 93(6.5%) 1 /4~1 /8 blastomeres cleaved. In sodium alginate-embedded 14 among 84(16.7%) 1 /2~1 /3 blastomeres cleaved and 6 among 85(7.1%) 1 /4~1 /8 blastomeres cleaved. In case of Na-alginate, the rate of the cells were better than those of agar. The results suggest that the techniques for embeeding the isolated blastomeres into gel may help cloning of bovine early embryo without nuclear transplantation.

Immatured bovine follicular oocytes added with serum, hormones, granulosa cells and bovine oviduct epithelium cells were fertilized in vitro after in vitro maturation. In vitro maturation and early development capacity were examined and IVF-derived embryos were transferred and to recipients and effects of sperm treatment on in vitro capacitation were investigated. The rate of in vitro maturation was improved when they were co-culutred with granulosa cells in the TCM199 medium added with 10% FCS and hormones. The percentage of acrosome reaction was not differed between sperm treatments and sperm of above 25% under-went AR during 30 min preincubation with caffeine and heparin. The cleavage rate of oocytes in vitro fertilized in TCM199 medium added with 10% FCS and hormones, GC or BOEG higher than that in medium with 10% FCS and GC. But the rate was not significantly different between GC and BOEG The cleavage of rate oocytes cultured in medium containing serum, hormones and BOEG was 80.2% and more embryos were developed to Blastocyst (17.3%). The selected embryos were transferred to 9 recipients by surgical or nonsurgical method but did not result in pregnancy.

This study was conducted to examine the condition of in vitro culture system and the viability after embryo transfer of in vitro matured-in vitro fertilized (IVM-IVF) bovine embryos. The in vitro development to the blastocyst stage was enhanced by supplying bovine serum albumin(BSA) to co-culture medium with bovine oviduct epithelial tissue(BOET) compared with that in medium supplemented with fetal bovine serum(FBS) (41.2% vs. 26. 3%, P<0.05). After transfer of IVM-IVF blastocysts into the uterine horn of recipient females (Aberdeen Angus), one was pregnant to term and produced a head of male Korean native calf. These results confirm that the in vitro development of IVM-IVF bovine embryos is affected with different protein source in co-culture with BOET, and IVM-IVF embryos can develop to term after in vitro culture and embryo transfer.

Adaptive development of early stage embryo is well established and recently it is explored that the mammalian embryos also have adaptive ability to the stressful environment. However, the mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study, to evaluate the possible role of aquaporin in early embryo developmental adaptation, the expression of aquaporin (AQP) 5 gene which is detected during early development were examined by the environmental condition. To compare expression patterns between in vivo and in vitro, we conducted quantitative RT-PCR and analyzed localization of the AQP5 by whole mount immunofluorescence. At in vivo condition, Aqp5 expressed in oocyte and in all the stages of preimplantation embryo. It showed peak at 2-cell stage and decreased continuously until morula stage. At in vitro condition, Aqp5 expression pattern was similar with in vivo embryos. It expressed both at embryonic genome activation phase and second mid-preimplantation gene activation phase, but the fold changes were modified between in vivo embryos and in vitro embryos. During in vivo development, AQP5 was mainly localized in apical membrane of blastomeres of 4-cell and 8-cell stage embryos, and then it was localized in cytoplasm. However, the main localization area of AQP5 was dramatically shifted after 8-cell stage from cytoplasm to nucleus by in vitro development. Those results explore the modification of Aqp5 expression levels and location of its final products by in vitro culture. It suggests that expression of Aqp5 and the roles of AQP5 in homeostasis can be modulated by in vitro culture, and that early stage embryos can develop successfully by themselves adapting to their condition through modulation of the specific gene expression and localization.

Different with other fishes, the guppies (Poecilia reticulata) is ovoviviparity, which retain their fertilized eggs within the follicle throughout gestation. The synchronously growing diplotene oocytes store nutrients in droplets and yolk, before their maturation and fertilization. The lecithotrophic strategy of development entails the provisioning of embryos with resources from the maternal yolk deposit rather than from a placenta, it allows the extracorporeal culture of guppy embryo. Studies on their early development of live bearers like the guppy including lineage tracing and genetic manipulations, have been limited. Therefore, to optimize conditions of embryo in vitro culture, explanted embryos from pregnant females were incubated in embryo medium (L-15 medium, supplemented with 5, 10, 15, 20% fetal bovine serum, respectively). We investigated whether the contents of FBS in vitro culture medium impact the development of embryos, and whether they would hatch in vitro. Our study found that in 5% of FBS of the medium, although embryos developed significantly slower in vitro than in the ovary, it was impossible to exactly quantify the developmental delay in culture, due to the obvious spread in developmental stage within each batch of eggs, and embryos can only be maintained until the early-eyed. And although in culture with 20% FBS the embryos can sustain rapid development of early stage, but cannot be cultured for the entire period of their embryonic development and ultimately died. In the medium with 10% and 15% FBS, the embryos seems well developed, even some can continue to grow after follicle ruptures until it can be fed. We also observed that embryonic in these two culture conditions were significantly different in development speed, in 15% it is faster than 10%. But 10% FBS appears to be more optimizing condition than 15% one on development process of embryos and survival rate to larvae stage.

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved lysosomal pathway for degrading cytoplasmic proteins, macromolecules, and organelles, in addition to recycling protein and ATP synthesis. Although programmed cell death (PCD) is very important during embryogenesis, the mechanism underlying the dynamic development during this process remains largely unknown. In order to obtain insights into autophagy and it's relation with apoptosis in early embryo development, we first evaluated LC3 gene expression levels in mouse embryos developing in vitro. qRT-PCR revealed high expression levels from 1- to 4 cell stage embryo, and then expression decreased during morula and blastocyst formation. Indirect immunocytochemistry showed protein synthesis of LC3 in these stage embryos. Introducing of autophagy inhibitor, 3-MA (2mM) significantly decreased both developmental rate (54.85±11.0%) and total cell number (n=71±8), but increased apoptosis rate (5.68± 1.9%) at the blastocyst. Real time RT-PCR confirmed reduced expression of selected autophagy related genes, including ULK1, Atg4A, B, C, D, Atg5, Atg8, Gabarap, Atg9A, B and Atg16L. Treatment of autophagy inducer, rapamycin (50 ng/㎖) increased both mRNA expression and protein synthesis of LC3 and apoptosis rate (16.11±3.42%), but decreased developmental rates (50.16±9.78) and total cell numbers (n=60±7) as compared to control developmental rate (70.74±12.9%), Total cell number (89.8±9) and apoptotic cell death (1.11±0.7%). These results suggest that autophagy is related with apoptosis in mouse embryo, which possibly give a role for early development.

Ferritin light heavy chain (FLHC) gene는 일부 중금속과 결합, 저장 및 운반하여 무독화 시킬 수 있는 것으로 알려져 있다. Fe 관련 유전자인 FLHC유전자를 식물 발현용 promoter인 35S promoter와 Tnos를 사용하여 식물 형질전환용 vector를 재조합하였다. 식물세포형질전환용 binary vector는 상기 cassette vector가 조립이 매우 양호하며 border sequence를 가지고 있는 pRD400 binary vector를 사용하여 최종적으로 가나마이신 내성 유전자 (NPT II gene)와 tadpole ferritin heavy chain gene 및 human ferritin light chain gene를 함유하고 있는 binary vector를 재조합하였다. Binary vector의 아그로박테리움에 도입은 triparental mating 방법에 의하여 수행하여 AB배지 및 가나마이신 함유 배지에서 disarmed Ti-vector를 가지고 있는 Agrobacterium tumefaciens MP90/FLHC을 선발하였다. FLHC 유전자 도입된 식물형질전환용 binary vector를 이용하여 형질전환방법을 변형하여 많은 embryo를 유도하였으며 유도된 embryo들은 GA 10mg/L가 첨가된 배지에 지상부를 유도하였다. 형질전환체식물체의 정상적인 생장을 유도하기 위해 최적의 배양조건을 조사하였던 바, 비교적 1/3 MS배지에서 뿌리의 생장과 지상부의 생장이 균일하게 생장하는 경향을 보였으며, 뿌리와 줄기가 잘 발달된 약 7cm의 유식물체를 대량으로 증식하여, 모래와 흙이 1:1로 혼합된 토양에 옮겼다.