Rat Embryo Cultures for In Vitro Teratology

Abstract

Mammalian embryos provide a particular challenge to those who wish to study developmental processes because development takes place inside the mother's body, thus limiting the investigator's ability to directly affect and observe the embryonic stages of development. Fortunately, as this unit illustrates, methods have been developed for in vitro culture of rodent embryos during early postimplantation (gestation days 9 to 11) and early fetal (gestation days 12 to 14) stages, which are the periods during which the major systems of the embryo are established. Embryos at these stages are particularly suitable for screening studies to determine the effects of teratological agents.

Inhibition of proteolysis in histiotrophic nutrition pathways alters DNA methylation and one-carbon metabolism in the organogenesis-stage rat conceptus

“…To optimize growth, bottles were gassed on GD10 after explantation with 20% O 2 /5% CO 2 and on the morning of GD11 with 95% O 2 /5% CO 2 . Culture bottles were incubated at 37°C in a roller apparatus throughout the culture period as described previously [10, 19, 20]. …”