In vitro development of bovine embryos in Buffalo rat liver- or bovine oviduct-conditioned medium.

A culture system for bovine embryos was developed using Buffalo rat liver cell (BRL) line-conditioned medium without serum. Zygotes, obtained by in vitro maturation and fertilization of oocytes, were cultured either in unconditioned medium (TCM 199 or DMEM/F12) or in the same medium conditioned by bovine oviduct or BRL cells. No serum was added during conditioning or during embryo culture. The DMEM/F12 medium was superior to TCM 199 for development of bovine embryos to the 5 to 8-cell stage: on average between 50 and 57% of the embryos reached this stage after 2 d of culture in DMEM/F12 or in conditioned medium, while 36% reached this stage in TCM 199. Further development to the blastocyst stage was enhanced by conditioning. The highest percentage of blastocysts was achieved in DMEM/F12 medium conditioned with BRL cells (30%). The yield of blastocysts was similar in TCM 199 and in DMEM/F12 media conditioned with bovine oviduct cells (22 versus 20%), but after conditioning with BRL cells, DMEM/F12 medium yielded a higher percentage of blastocysts than TCM 199 (30 versus 18%). This might be explained by the fact that viability of BRL cells was better in DMEM/F12 medium than in TCM 199 when serum was omitted. Blastocysts produced in BRL-conditioned medium had a higher number of cells than blastocysts obtained in bovine oviduct-conditioned medium, and their transfer to recipients led to pregnancies and birth of calves. In conclusion, culture of bovine embryos in DMEM/F12 medium conditioned with BRL cells without serum led to the development of good-quality blastocysts and is thus a promising method for producing embryos for the study of potential embryotrophic factors. The use of rat liver cell lines guarantees against bovine viruses and allows for better production of embryos.