Survival of mouse embryos after freezing and thawing in the presence of erythritol

✍ Scribed by Miyamoto, Hajime ;Ishibashi, Takehiko

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 283 KB
• Volume: 216
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402160217

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Eight‐cell mouse embryos were frozen by using erythritol as the cryoprotective agent. The samples were cooled slowly (1°C/min) to temperatures between − 15 and − 75°C before direct transfer into liquid nitrogen (− 196°C). The most effective concentration of erythritol for freezing of embryos was 0.6 M, and the optimal exposure time of embryos to 0.6 M erythritol at 0°C prior to freezing appeared to be 60 min under the conditions used. The embryos in erythritol survived slow thawing (∼20°C/min), only when cooled slowly to temperatures between − 30 and − 60°C before transfer into liquid nitrogen, and survived rapid thawing (∼500°C/min), only after transfer from − 25 to − 40°C. The highest survival rates of slowly thawed embryos were obtained after transfer to − 196°C from − 35 (63%) and − 40°C (64%), and the highest survival rates of rapidly thawed embryos were obtained after transfer from − 30°C (54%). Mouse embryos that survived freezing and thawing with erythritol as the cryoprotective agent were capable of developing to full‐term fetuses.