Table 1.

Effect of the “minimum effective dose” of LPS on development of preimplantation stage embryos collected from nonsuperovulated pregnant animals. Data is expressed as mean ± 1SEM, with all values given in (%) of abnormal embryos. Means bearing similar superscripted alphabets do not differ from each other at P ≤ .05 (based on Duncan's multiple range test). ANOVA: treatment (T), F- value = 304.354 (P < .001), df 1,16; days of pregnancy (P), F-value = 42.761 (P < .001), df 3,16; T × P interaction F-value = 36.881 (P < .001), df 3,16.

Days of pregnancy	No of animals used	Control animals				LPS-treated animals
		Total no of embryos recovered	No of abnormal embryos recovered	Loss in yield (%)	Abnormal embryos (%)	Total no of embryos recovered	No of abnormal embryos recovered	Loss in yield (%)	Abnormal embryos (%)
1.5	3	27 ± 2	0 ± 2	0	4 ± 2(e)	27 ± 2	0 ± 2	0	4 ± 2.17(e)
2.5	3	27 ± 2	0 ± 2	0	4 ± 2.18(e)	23 ± 2	15 ± 2	15	65 ± 5.022(b)
3.5	3	27 ± 2	2 ± 1	0	7 ± 2.027(c)	20 ± 2	15 ± 3	26	75 ± 8.66(b)
4.375	3	27 ± 2	2 ± 1	0	7 ± 2.027(c)	6 ± 3	6 ± 1	78	94 ± 5.56(a)