Abstract
Purpose: Our aim was to determine the effect of temperature and incubation time on the toxicity of propanediol on mouse zygotes.
Method: Zygotes were pooled and randomly allocated to one of the treatment groups. Zygotes were incubated in PBS or PBS containing 1.5M propanediol at 37°C or room temperature (RT) for up to 30 min, washed, and cultured. Similarly, zygotes were incubated at 4°C or RT for 30 min and either washed and cultured or frozen-thawed, washed, and cultured. Zygotes were examined at 24, 48, and 96 hr of culture and embryo quality was determined.
Results: Exposure of zygotes to 1.5 M propanediol at 37°C significantly impaired first cleavage and blastocyst formation compared to exposure at RT (P<0.0007). Incubation of zygotes for more than 5 min at 37°C significantly reduced embryo development (P<0.00001) Exposure to propanediol at 4°C results in similar embryo development before and after freeze-thawing compared to exposure at RT.
Conclusions: Propanediol is toxic to mouse zygotes in a temperature- and time-dependent fashion. Cryopreservation of zygotes after exposure at 4°C appears to be no better than after exposure at RT.
Key words: Mouse zygote, propanediol, toxicity, equilibration temperature
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