Many pronuclear stage eggs were used to generate transgenic mice (Tg) by microinjection. In this study, we used in vitro fertilized mouse eggs, followed by ultrarapid freezing to establish a simple procedure for production of Tg mice. We produced in vitro fertilized mouse eggs and cryopreserved them by ultrarapid freezing method. A total of 139 cryopreserved-thawed pronuclear eggs, of which 101 (72.6%) were survived following microinjection of chicken b-actin promoter-driven firefly improved luciferase cDNA (β-act/luc+) and were transferred into 5 recipients. All recipients became pregnant and gave birth to a total of 15 (14.8%) pups. As a control, same DNA construction (β- act/luc+) was also injected into 450 in vitro fertilized eggs, of which 338 (75.1%) were survived and then were transferred into 14 recipients. Eleven (78%) mice became pregnant and littered a total of 54 (19.1%) pups. Southern blotting analysis of Tg mice indicated that one (1/15, 6.6%) and three (3/54, 5.5%) transgenic mice were production from cryopreserved and in vitro fertilized eggs, respectively. All Tg mice produced from both eggs showed the expression of improved luciferase gene. These results indicated that efficiency of produced of Tg mice from cryopreserved eggs was comparable to that from in vitro fertilized eggs. Furthermore, it is suggested that microinjection of transgene into in vitro fertilized eggs cryopreserved by ultrarapid freezing is an easy and conveniently method for production of Tg mice.

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.

This study was carried out to efficiently use the ultrarapid freezing method in the cryopreservation of mouse ova. For this, the effects of dehydration method, oval vigour and controlling method on post-thawing viability were investigated. Fresh mouse ova were dehydrated in mPBS with 3.5M DMSO and /or 0.25M sucrose, and directly immersed in L for ultrarapidly freezing. The frozen ova were thawed at 37, rehydrated in mPBS with 0.25M sucrose, and then repeatedly washed in HAM's Fl0 before evaluating the morphological normality of frozen-thawed ova. The results obtained showed that there was difference between treatments in a experiment. 1) The post-thawing viability of ova dehydrated in multi-step (48.413.8%) was higher than that of ova in two-step (40.914.0%). 2) The post-thawing viability of fertilized ova (8714.0%) was significantly(p<0.0l) higher than that of unfertilized ova (5.45.4%). 3) The post-thawing viability of ova dehydrated and rehydrated using a cooling machine (95.84.2%) was significantly(p<0.05) higher than that on ice(84.19.9). In conclusion, in order to efficiently cryopreserve ova in vitro with ultrarapidly freezing method, highly viable embryos should be selected, heavy osmotic shock to the dehydrating ova should be avoided, and embryos in high osmotic condition were dehydrated and rehydrated in a constantly low temperature.

Cryopreservation of mouse embryos biopsied at 4-cell stage was investigated by ultrarapid freezing. Four-cell embryos were obtained from ICR mice on 55h after hCG injection. Zona pellucida of the embryos were partially dissected with a cutting pipet, and then single blastomeres were biopsied from the embryos followed by incubation in + and +-free M16 medium for 30min. Biopsied embryos cultured for lh or 15h were frozen by ultrarapid freezing method using 3M DMSO or 5M glycerol as a cryoprotectant, respectively. The developmental rate of biopsied embryos after ultrarapid freezing and thawing to blastocysts was 81 % in the group of biopsied embryos cultured for lb and 98% in the group of biopsied embryos cultured for 15h, respectively. When biopsied embryos after ultrarapid freezing and thawing were transferred to the uteri of pseudopregnant recipients, normal live young were born. These results suggest that this freezing method can efficiently cryopreserve biopsied mouse embryos.