THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE ATP CONTENT OF PREIMPLANTATION MOUSE EMBRYOS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT IN VITRO DURING CULTURE

Abstract

Summary. A positive correlation was found between the levels of ATP in two-cell embryos from random-bred mice and the proportion of these embryos which developed to the blastocyst stage during culture in vitro. The better development of hybrid one-cell embryos to blastocysts than that of random-bred one-cell embryos may also be related to the higher amounts of ATP found in hybrid two-cell embryos cultured from the one-cell stage compared to those in embryos of the random-bred strain. The relationship between the ATP content of embryos and the proportion of embryos developing in vitro appeared to be different between the two groups of mice and was altered after culture in vitro. The levels of ATP in two-cell embryos from a random-bred strain and F₁ hybrid mice cultured from the one-cell stage in medium supplemented with glucose and serum albumin were higher than the levels of ATP in embryos cultured in glucose-free medium containing less albumin. During culture of hybrid one-cell embryos in the medium containing glucose and albumin, an effect of a low O₂ tension in the atmosphere on ATP levels became apparent only after the morula stage.