Journal of Animal Science, Vol 74, Issue 9 2263-2268, Copyright © 1996 by American Society of Animal Science

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Technical note: porcine non-surgical embryo transfer

J. Li, A. Rieke, B. N. Day and R. S. Prather
Department of Animal Science, University of Missouri-Columbia 65211, USA.

The cervix is a barrier for transferring porcine embryos non-surgically. A non-surgical embryo transfer instrument composed of four parts has been developed that allows the delivery of embryos into the lumen of one uterine horn. Part 1, a modified artificial insemination spirette, is used to produce a cervical lock and to assist in manipulating Part 2 through the cervix. Part 2 is made of stainless steel tubing with a unique curved tip that can be manipulated through the folds of the cervix. Part 3 is a testing bar to ensure that the tip of Part 2 reaches the bifurcation of the uterus. Part 4, a disposable tubing complex for embryo delivery, is composed of a soft plastic leader tubing, a double opened connector for embryo loading and unloading, a semi-hard plastic tubing, and a hard tubing with a water-sealable plunger. Embryos (4-cell to blastocyst stages) were surgically collected and maintained in vitro up to 5 h before the non-surgical embryo transfer. Five of 16 recipients became pregnant (31%) and farrowed an average of 6.2 +/- 3.1 pigs per litter. This easily learned non-surgical embryo transfer technique will simplify embryo transfer in the swine industry and may lead to improvements in swine breeding and scientific research.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A Kidson, F J Rubio-Pomar, A Van Knegsel, H T A Van Tol, W Hazeleger, D W B Ducro-Steverink, B Colenbrander, S J Dieleman, and M M Bevers Quality of porcine blastocysts produced in vitro in the presence or absence of GH Reproduction, February 1, 2004; 127(2): 165 - 177. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]