Culture of equine embryos in media containing egg yolk, mare’s milk and saline: Preliminary results.

This research paper explores the effect of using different concentrations of egg yolk, mare’s milk, and saline to cultivate horse embryos, demonstrating that the ideal growth medium consists of 20-60% each of egg yolk, mare’s milk, or saline. The study also examines the successful pregnancy outcomes following the transfer of a cultured blastocyst per mare.

Experiment Details and Findings

• The researchers experimented with a culture medium made up of egg yolk, mare’s milk, and/or a substance called modified PBS to cultivate horse embryos at an early stage of development (blastocysts that were 8 to 8.5 days old).
• Twenty-one variations of the medium were created, each with different concentrations of the three components.
• After the embryos were nonsurgically collected, they were placed into these media at 37 degrees Celsius for a span of 24 hours.
• In totality, 45 embryos were cultured. During the cultivation process, 7 of them died, 13 exhibited inadequate development at the start, but 25 blossomed within the media.
• The study concluded that embryos developed optimally in a medium containing 20-60% egg yolk, 20-60% mare’s milk, and/or 20-60% PBS (short for phosphate-buffered saline).
• Through the experiments, it was found that egg yolk was determinant for the media, while mare’s milk and PBS could replace each other.

Pregnancy Outcomes

• After the culture, 1 blastocyst was non-surgically transferred to each of two mares.
• One of the mares miscarried at the 9-month mark, whereas the other successful carried the fetus to full term and delivered normally.

This research signifies that the egg yolk, mare’s milk, and PBS culture medium could potentially be a promising method for nurturing equine embryos in vitro, although subsequent pregnancy results may vary. Further research is needed to confirm and optimize these preliminary findings.