Release of two-cell block by reduction of protein disulfide with thioredoxin from Escherichia coli in mice

The development of mouse pronuclear-stage embryos in media containing various concentrations of thioredoxin was monitored and the influence of antithioredoxin immunoglobulin G (IgG) and beat-treated thioredoxin on the thioredoxin-induced effects was evaluated. A significant increase in the number of four-cell embryos (76.3%) and blastocysts (37.3%) was observed when embryos were cultured in the medium containing 50 μg thioredoxin ml -1 compared with the rates (55.8 and 3.8%, respectively) in the basic medium