In vitro culture of peri-gastrulation embryos of a macropodid marsupial

Abstract

Peri-gastrulation stage tammar wallaby embryos were cultured for up to 78 h in either Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium or Medium 199, in air/ 6% CO2 or 95% O2/5% CO2, and with added fetal calf or wallaby serum. There was little difference between the two media or sera sources, but development was markedly superior for embryos cultured in 95% O2/5% CO2. Many embryos survived even prolonged culture periods up to and over 70 h, and although development continued throughout the culture period, the embryos as a whole became increasingly abnormal. Embryos explanted at the primitive streak/regressing node stages performed better in vitro than embryos explanted at earlier or later stages. The embr..