1993 Volume 42 Issue 4 Pages 565-570
We examined an application of in vitro fertilization-embryo culture-embryo trans-fer system for reproductive and developmental study on the drug safety evaluation in mice. The male mice at 10 weeks of age were administered intravenously with a single dose of 75 mg/kg of the anticancer platimun complex (DWA 2114R) which inhibits DNA synthesis. Four to six weeks after administration, the males were mated with the superovulated females. Fertilization rates were significantly lower than the controls at each weeks after the administration. Furthermore, delayed formation of pronucleus was observed as compared with the control. Four weeks after administration, the preimplantation development to blastocyst stage of those embryos in vitro and the survival rates on the day 17 of gestation after embryo transfer suggested that a DNA synthesis in germ cells during maturation was inhibited and/or prevented by DWA 2114R. The results of in vitro fertilization reflected its sperm concentration rather than the administration of DWA 2114R. Thus, an analysis of the delayed formation of pronucleus observed fertilization in vivo could not done in detail. To use for the drug safety evaluation, there exist plenty of room for improvement in this system. These results have showed that the embryo culture and the embryo transfer are useful techniqes as the reproductive and developmental study on the drug safety evaluation. These techniges bring additional imformations on the pre- and post -implantation development in vivo.