Influence of culture medium and age of bovine blastocysts in established colonies of embryonic stem cells

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of bovine IVF blastocysts at different stages of embryonic development in establishing ESC-like. Furthermore, blastocysts cultured in medium containing (10%) and (2.5%) fetal calf serum (FCS) were compared to determine if the serum concentration during in vitro culture alters the blastocyst’s potential to establish ESC-like culture. It was observed that only ICM’s from expanded blastocysts adhered to the monolayer (n=160) independent of the concentration of serum used during IVF culture. There were no observable differences in potential to establish ESC-like in embryos cultured with 2,5% or 10% FCS . The bFGF didn´t seems to be required for maintenance of bovine ESClike regardless of culture conditions. Blastocysts and colonies in primary culture and after the first passage were positive for Oct4, Nanog, SSEA-3 and TRA-1-81. Expanded blastocysts gave rise to ESC-like colonies, and the addition of LIF was sufficient to maintain cells undifferentiated in culture.