Science, Vol 226, Issue 4680, 1317-1319
Copyright © 1984 by American Association for the Advancement of Science
Inability of mouse blastomere nuclei transferred to enucleated zygotes to support development in vitro
J McGrath
and
D Solter
More than 90 percent of enucleated one-cell mouse embryos receiving pronuclei from other one-cell embryos successfully develop to the blastocyst stage in vitro. In this investigation, nuclei from successive preimplantation cleavage stages were introduced into enucleated one-cell embryos and the embryos were tested for development in vitro. Although two-cell nuclei supported development to the morula or blastocyst stage, four-cell, eight-cell, and inner cell mass cell nuclei did not. The inability of cell nuclei from these stages to support development reflects rapid loss of totipotency of the transferred nucleus and is not the result of simultaneous transfer of membrane or cytoplasm.
