This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.
The aim of this grant is to investigate the possibility of using pigtail macaque (Macaca nemestrina) females as recipients for genotyped rhesus macaque embryos. Because of the low efficiency of obtaining pregnancies in rhesus-to-pigtail embryo transfers, an in vitro fertilization protocol was established to produce pigtail macaque embryos for transfer into pigtail surrogates. A total of 82 oocytes were collected from a total of four females (on two days with two females each). Semen was collected from the same male on both occasions with respective ejaculate volumes of 0.55 and 0.1 mL containing 2x109 and 6.6x108 sperm cells/mL. Following insemination and after 48 h in culture, 42 (51.2%) of the oocytes had cleaved. Of these 21 were selected based on developmental stage and their morphology and cryopreserved. The remainder was kept in culture for an additional five days at which time three had reached the expanded blastocyst stage. A total of five transfers were performed with frozen-thawed embryos and two of these resulted in pregnancies and the birth of infants. The results of this study demonstrate that oocytes can be retrieved from pigtailed macaques and that such oocytes can be inseminated and cultured in vitro to the blastocyst stage and give rise to viable offspring after transfer into surrogate females. Moreover, pregnancies can be obtained with the same efficiency as has been demonstrated in rhesus monkeys.
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