In-vitro co-culture of early stage caprine embryos with oviduct and uterine epithelial cells

Abstract

Early stage caprine embryos were incubated with goat oviduct and uterine cells to evaluate whether these cells could be used as a somatic cell culture system to enhance development through the developmental block at the 8- to 16-cell stage during in-vitro culture. Following gonadotrophin treatment and natural mating, 2- to 4-cell embryos were surgically recovered from donor females for in-vitro culture studies. In Experiment 1, embryos were equally and randomly allotted to culture treatments of either culture medium plus caprine oviduct cells or culture medium alone. In both treatment groups, embryos were incubated in Medium-199 with 10% fetal bovine serum, 0.25% lactalbumin and 1% antibiotic-antimycotic at 37 degrees C in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 in air. In Experiment 2, similar embryos were cultured in the same medium with either caprine oviduct cells, caprine uterine cells or sequentially incubated with oviduct cells and then uterine cells during a corresponding incubation interval. The culture conditions in Experiment 2 were the same as in Experiment 1. Following 72 h in culture, (Experiment 1), significantly more embryos developed through the in-vitro developmental block into blastocysts and hatched blastocysts when cultured with oviduct cells compared with no embryos developing through the in-vitro block when incubated with medium alone. In Experiment 2, caprine embryos co-cultured with oviduct cells alone resulted in more embryos developing into blastocysts and hatched blastocysts compared with those co-cultured with uterine cells alone.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Ultrastructural evaluation following catheterization of the fallopian tube with a hysteroscopic catheter

“…The status of the fallopian tube affects the quality of mammalian embryos (19)(20)(21). Major midcycle proteins in the human oviduct may protect the biochemical milieu of the fallopian tube during early embryonic development (22).…”

Ultrastructural features of goat oviductal secretory cells at follicular and luteal phases of the oestrous cycle

“…A previous study revealed that the oviductal epithelial cells of goats secreted an oviduct-specific glycoprotein (Abe et al 1995 b). In addition, coculture with the goat oviductal epithelial cells has definite beneficial effects on embryo development in vitro (Prichard et al 1992). In spite of the importance of these findings, available information on the secretory activity of epithelial cells of the goat oviduct is still limited.…”

Goat uterine epithelial cells are susceptible to infection with Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis Virus (CAEV) in vivo

“…After in vitro fertilization, early stage embryos are cultured on a feeder layer of epithelial cells from goat oviducts [33-35], which are essential for early development before transfer to recipient does [36,37]. These cells are derived from organs obtained at the slaughterhouse from goats of unknown CAEV status, and in many industrialized countries the incidence of CAEV infection may be as high as 60 to 80% [6].…”