Bioscientifica Proceedings

In vitro maturation and in vitro fertilization techniques in pigs have progressed considerably in recent years. Many reports focus on the factors affecting in vitro maturation that lead to normal male pronuclear formation or monospermy after fertilization in vitro. It is suggested that pig follicular fluid (pFF), follicle somatic cells and various hormones are important factors for the maintenance of cytoplasmic maturation of oocytes <e...

Pig embryos can be cultured using a number of different strategies including complex approaches like culture in vivo in a surrogate oviduct (rabbit, sheep, mouse), culture in mouse oviducts in organ culture, and co-culture of embryos with cells in addition to simple approaches like culture in defined media or salt solutions. Addition of serum to medium has been of particular importance where blastocyst development and hatching are required. Pig conceptuses (day 1...

On the basis of established surgical procedures for embryo recovery and transfer, the early pig embryo can be subjected to various manipulations aimed at a longterm preservation of genetic material, the generation of identical multiplets, the early determination of sex or the alteration of the genetic make-up. Most of these procedures are still at an experimental stage and despite recent considerable progress are far from practical application. Normal piglets have been ob...