Comparison of traditional and modified (VitMaster) methods of rabbit embryo vitrification.

In spite of their cryobiological efficacy, minimum-volume vitrification methods suffer from the risk of microbiological contamination and are technically and/or manually demanding. In this study, the effects of a traditional, slightly modified vitrification method and vitrification using supercooled liquid nitrogen (VitMaster) applied for rabbit morula-stage embryos were compared. Embryos were equilibrated in a solution containing 1,2-propanediol (2.72 M) and glycerol (1.36 M) for 7 min and vitrified in 0.25-ml insemination straws after 1-min exposure to a vitrification solution containing additionally 1.0 M sucrose. Cooling was performed in 'normal' or supercooled liquid nitrogen. Regardless of the cooling method applied, high in vitro survival and development rates of vitrified embryos were obtained. All embryos were intact after warming, and 61 out of 65 (93.8%) and 23 out of 24 (95.8%) embryos developed to the blastocyst stage after 48-h in vitro culture of embryos vitrified in 'normal' or supercooled liquid nitrogen, respectively. The results suggest higher developmental ability of embryos vitrified in supercooled liquid nitrogen (91.7% vs . 83.1% of embryos vitrified traditionally developed to more advanced, expanding and/or hatching blastocyst stages). In vivo survival rate, tested for the traditional vitrification system only, revealed that 36.8% of embryos developed to term. The results show promise for establishing a fully successful method for rabbit embryo vitrification.

Experimental embryonic-somatic chimaerism in the sheep confirmed by random amplified polymorphic DNA assay.

Developmental potencies of sheep somatic cells (foetal fibroblasts, FFs) in chimaeric animals were analysed. FFs from pigmented Polish Heatherhead (wrzosowka) breed were microsurgically injected into morulae or blastocysts of white Polish Merino breed (5 cells to each embryo). In one experiment the cells were stained with vital fluorescent dye PKH26, and chimaeric blastocysts were cultured in vitro to confirm the presence of fluorescent cells. In the majority of experiments the blastocysts were transferred to synchronized recipient ewes for development until term. Cultured embryonic cells (CEC), earlier known to produce chimaeras, were injected into blastocysts in control experiments. Seven young were born from FF-injected embryos and three were born from CEC-injected ones. All of them were white, but all three control lambs and three experimental lambs showed small areas of skin pigmentation, which indicated Heatherhead CEC or FF contribution. Tissue samples originating from three germ layers were taken from two FFs-originating presumably chimaeric lambs (male and female) at the age of one month for DNA analysis. The random amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR method supplied two markers of chimaerism, which were amplification products of 643 bp and 615 bp long DNA fragments, found in tissues of experimental lambs as well as in FFs, but not in the blood of parents of blastocysts. The 643 bp marker was found in the majority of tissues of both lambs. The 615 bp amplicon was detected in the skin and lungs of the female lamb and in the hooves of the male lamb. Our data show that foetal fibroblasts introduced to sheep blastocysts can participate in development and can contribute to all tissue lineages up to at least one month of age.

Generation of cloned and chimeric embryos/offspring using the new methods of animal biotechnology.

The article summarizes results of studies concerning: 1/ qualitative evaluation of pig nuclear donor cells to somatic cell cloning, 2/ developmental potency of sheep somatic cells to create chimera, 3/ efficient production of chicken chimera. The quality of nuclear donor cells is one of the most important factors to determine the efficiency of somatic cell cloning. Morphological criteria commonly used for qualitative evaluation of somatic cells may be insufficient for practical application in the cloning. Therefore, different types of somatic cells being the source of genomic DNA in the cloning procedure were analyzed on apoptosis with the use of live-DNA or plasma membrane fluorescent markers. It has been found that morphological criteria are a sufficient selection factor for qualitative evaluation of nuclear donor cells to somatic cell cloning. Developmental potencies of sheep somatic cells in embryos and chimeric animals were studied using blastocyst complementation test. Fetal fibroblasts stained with vital fluorescent dye and microsurgically placed in morulae or blastocysts were later identified in embryos cultured in vitro. Transfer of Polish merino blastocysts harbouring Heatherhead fibroblasts to recipient ewes brought about normal births at term. Newly-born animals were of merino appearance with dark patches on their noses, near the mouth and on their clovens. This overt chimerism shows that fetal fibroblasts introduced to sheep morulae/blastocysts revealed full developmental plasticity. To achieve the efficient production of chicken chimeras, the blastodermal cells from embryos of the donor breeds, (Green-legged Partridgelike breed or GPxAraucana) were transferred into the embryos of the recipient breed (White Leghorn), and the effect of chimerism on the selected reproductive and physiological traits of recipients was examined. Using the model which allowed identification of the chimerism at many loci, it has been found that 93.9% of the examined birds were chimeras. The effect of donor cells on the reproduction and physiology of the recipients was evident.

Banking of embryos of mutated, paralytic tremor rabbit by means of vitrification.

Cryopreservation enables banking of embryos for future use in medicine and in animal breeding. It also enables protection of germ plasm of endangered species and unique strains or lanes of laboratory animals. This paper describes an example of employing a vitrification method for banking of embryos of a unique lane of rabbit. The paralytic tremor (pt) rabbit is an X-linked recessive mutant lane of the Chinchilla breed characterized by hypomyelination of the central nervous system. In order to obtain a sufficient number of embryos, pt females were subjected to superovulation and surgical embryo collection. All suitable embryos were vitrified in 0.25 mL insemination straws in a modified EFS vitrification solution comprised of ethylene glycol (40%), Ficoll 70 (18%) and sucrose (0.3 M) in Hepes buffered TCM medium containing 20% fetal calf serum. In order to assess the efficiency of the vitrification procedure, a representative portion of vitrified embryos was warmed after a period of storage. Warmed embryos were subjected to in vitro culture for 72 h or were transferred to the uterus of synchronized recipients. The majority of the 141 warmed embryos survived vitrification and 100/141 (71%) developed to the blastocyst stage. Moreover, out of an additional 34 warmed embryos transferred to four recipients, eight (23.5%) developed to term and seven live pups were born. Six of the rabbit pups exhibited paralytic tremor symptoms typical for the pt lane. Although the overall efficiency of the vitrification method was lower compared with the effects usually achieved for 'healthy' embryos, results presented confirm the real possibility of the future restoration of the colony of pt rabbit, if sufficient number of embryos are cryopreserved.

Noninvasive fluorescent screening of microinjected bovine embryos to predict transgene integration.

Most transgenic domestic animals are generated by direct microinjection of DNA fragments into zygote pronuclei. It has generally been assumed that the majority of integration events should occur prior to the first round of chromosomal DNA replication. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of GFP in bovine preimplantation embryos by using a gfp reporter gene consisting of chicken beta-actin promoter, the CMV-IE enhancer, gfp cDNA (EGFP) (732 bp) and rabbit beta-globin polyadenylation sequences. In five experiments 302 bovine zygotes were injected while 75 served as a control. The fluorescence intensity was detected at 72 and 168 h following fertilization in bovine embryos injected with 3 ng/microl in experiments 1-3, and injected with 5 ng/microl in experiments 4-5. Eight embryos were considered as expressing green fluorescence protein; 2 of them were 100% fluorescent after microinjection of a higher dose of the DNA; one was 75%, two--50%, and three 25% transgenic. The mosaicism was assumed to be at 75%. The results indicated that the fluorescence could be analyzed at any time of bovine embryo development. It was therefore concluded, that chicken beta-actin promoter together with the CMV-IE enhancer would confer a strong expression of the gfp reporter gene in preimplantation bovine embryos. Therefore, using GFP that could be simply detected in live bovine (transgenic) embryos would be very promising in establishing transgenic lines of domestic animals producing in their fluids human therapeutic proteins.