Preliminary Study on Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer in Rabbits in Thailand Mongkol Techakumphu, DVM, Doctoral de 3< cycle, Pranee Numchaisrika, BSc,

The objective of the study was to develop the somatic nuclear transfer technique by using rabbits as the model. The oocyte recipients aged 16 h post coitus were collected surgically from 20 superovulated rabbit doe with 28 and 40 mg Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) after mating with a vasectomized male. The metaphase II plate and I" polar body of oocyte was later aspirated by enucleated micropipette under an inverted microscope. A single donor cell; cumulus cell or cultured or frozen fibroblast cell from passage I to 9 were transferred to enucleated oocyte and fused with triple DC pulses, 3.2 kv, 20 jls. The fused embryos were cultivated in TCM I99 NaHC0 3 + I 0 per cent fetal calf serum (FCS) for 4 days. The cleavage rate (2-cell stage) was 37.2 per cent (32/86) from eight experiments, and I8.8 per cent (6/32) developed to the early morula stage. This study also indicated that the enucleation pipette and the somatic cell type influenced the success. Key word : Rabbit, Fibroblast Cells, Cumulus Cells, Nuclear Transfer