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Bisection of Post-Compaction Bovine Embryos: The Difference in Viability Between the two Monozygotic Halves

Mikrokirurgisk deling af sene morula- eller blastocyst stadier: Forskelle i overlevelsesevne mellem de to monozygotiske halvdele

Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica volume 27, pages 33–48 (1986)Cite this article

Abstract

Bisection of bovine post-compaction embryos has become a useful tool for improving embryo transfer results. Compared to pre-compaction division, the technique is simpler but is does involve some cellular damage and rarely provides two completely identical “halves”. Monozygotic pairs can therefore be divided into “good” and “poor” half embryos. By 4–6 h of culture in vitro, “good” halves remained significantly more viable than their poorer counterparts. Gytological evaluation after 24 h culture shows that the morphologically better halves contain more cells (an average of 45.9 vs 23.0) and have a higher mitotic index (6.1 % vs 3.1 %) than the poorer halves. The single transfer of 26 half-embryos resulted in 15 pregnancies (55.6 %) but no difference could be demonstrated between the results obtained with halves of different sizes. Nevertheless, the in vitro results support the contention that bigger halves give better results and also demonstrate that one half-embryo cannot be used as a control for the other in viability studies.

Sammendrag

Mikrokirurgisk deling af bovine morula- eller blastocyststadier er blevet en integreret del af embryotransplantationsarbejdet og kan i mange tilfælde forbedre resultaterne meget væsentligt. Bisektion af morula-blastocyststadier er simplere end deling af de prækompakte stadier, men vil altid medføre nogen cellulær beskadigelse. Desuden er det praktisk umuligt at frembringe to fuldstændig identiske halvdele. Monozygotiske halvdele kan derfor altid opdeles i en „god" og en „ dårlig" halvdel. Det var dette studiums primære sigte at undersøge viabiliteten af de „gode" og „dårlige" halvdele.

Efter 4—6 timers dyrkning in vitro var de „gode" halvdele mere levedygtige end en „ dårlig". En cytologisk vurdering efter 24 timers dyrkning in vitro afslørede, at den morfologisk bedst udseende halvdel indeholdt flere celler end dens tilsvarende tvilling (gns. 45,9 celler mod 23,0 celler). Desuden havde den gode halvdel et højere mitotisk indeks end den dårlige (6,1 % mod 3,1 %).

Ikke-kirurgisk transplantation af 26 halve embryoner til 26 synkronisere de recipienter resulterede i 15 drægtigheder (55,6%). Det var dog ikke muligt at demonstrere en f orakel i drægtighedsprocenten mellem gode og dårlige eller store og små halvdele.

In vitro resultaterne understøttede imidlertid teorien om, at større halvdele har bedre overlevelseschancer end små halvdele.

In vivo resultaterne af total overlevelse viste, at den ene halvdel ikke kan anvendes som kontrol for dens monozygotiske tvilling efter transplantation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Conseil de Recherche et Services Agricoles du Québec (CRSAQ) and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERG). The authors also wish to thank Dr. P. Guay for professional collaboration; R. Bériault and G. Pineault for skilled technical assistance and S. Lagacé for typing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Recherche en Reproduction Animale, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, G. P. 5000, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada, J2S 7C6

    L. Picard, T. Greve, W. A. King, K. J. Betteridge & P. Holm Jørgensen

  2. Department of Animal Reproduction, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark

    L. Picard, T. Greve, W. A. King, K. J. Betteridge & P. Holm Jørgensen

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  1. L. Picard
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  2. T. Greve
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  3. W. A. King
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  4. K. J. Betteridge
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  5. P. Holm Jørgensen
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Picard, L., Greve, T., King, W.A. et al. Bisection of Post-Compaction Bovine Embryos: The Difference in Viability Between the two Monozygotic Halves. Acta Vet Scand 27, 33–48 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03548557

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Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica

ISSN: 1751-0147