In vitro production of bovine embryos : serum supplementation to the culture media

Abstract

Techniques for producing bovine preimplantation embryos by in vitro maturation and fertilization, offers the potential for a large number of embryos at low cost to be used for basic scientific research (embryo development, transgenesis, cloning) or for commercial purposes. Embryo culture conditions can influence in vitro embryo development significantly, provoking deviations responsible for low quality compared with in vivo counterparts. In particular, serum supplementation alters both embryo morphology and quality and eliminating serum from the media could be beneficial to produce good quality embryos for cryopreservation and embryo transfer. The objectives of this review are to describe the general aspects of in vitro embryo culture and summerize some hypotheses about the way serum could alter embryo development and quality.