background:   objective: the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of rabbit antiserum to es cells on mouse preimplantation embryo development and chimera production.   materials and methods: mouse 4-cell embryos were matured in vitro at 37.5 o c, in humidified 5% co 2 atmosphere for 12-36 h. the embryos were cultured in ksom medium with or without antiserum for 12-36 h. the ratios...

Although there is no acute luteolytic mechanism in the absence of pregnancy in the bitch, a precise and well-timed embryo-maternal interaction seems to be required for the initiation and maintenance of gestation. As only limited information is available about these processes in dogs, in this study, the uterine expression of possible decidualization markers was investigated during the pre-implan...

Arylamine N -acetyltransferases (NATs) catalyse the acetylation from acetyl-CoA of arylamines and hydrazines. There are two human isoenzymes which show polymorphism, and both enzymes are involved in the activation and detoxification of environmental carcinogens and teratogens. The two human isoenzymes NAT1 and NAT2 show different tissue distribution, with human NAT2 being found in liver and int...

Over the years it has been an important goal to optimize the treatment of subfertility in order to obtain a better pregnancy rate and baby-take-home rate, usually combined with the goal of decreasing the rate of multiplet pregnancies. This implies optimizing the development of embryos through improved in vitro culture methods. And it also implies optimizing the methods of selection of embryos f...

Chronology of three consecutive mitotic events in human pre-implantation embryos was examined by time-lapse imaging. In zygotes producing well-formed and pregnancy-yielding expanded blastocysts, uniform time-patterning of cleavage clusters (c) and interphases (i) was revealed: i2=11+/-1, i3=15+/-1, i4=23+/-1 h / c2=15+/-5, c3=40+/-10, c4=55+/-15 min. Oppositely, shortened or prolonged durations...