Effect of chemically defined culture medium supplemented with beta-mercaptoethanol and amino acids on implantation and development of different stage in vivo- or in vitro-derived mouse embryos

In vitro culture (IVC) systems are required for many biotechnological and assisted reproductive technologies and the researchers have been modifying in vitro embryo culture conditions to reach the comparable efficiencies provided in vivo. In the present study, the effects of beta-mercaptoethanol (Beta-ME) and amino acids (AA) on the development of mouse embryos obtained in vivo or in vitro at different stages were investigated. Chemically defined potassium simplex optimized medium (KSOM) was used as basic culture medium and six experimental groups were established and by supplementation of Beta-ME and AA into KSOM media. The quality of blastocysts was evaluated by counting the cells and determining the ratio of inner cell mass (ICM) to trophoectoderm (TE) cells. In addition, embryo transfer (ET) was performed to investigate the rate of implantation and live fetuses. The results obtained in the present study demonstrated that the combined treatment of Beta-ME and AA to 1-cell stage embryos not only enhanced in vitro development to the blastocyst stage but also improved both the number of blastocysts cells and live fetuses.