Research over the past 15 years in the applicants laboratory has resulted in the development of a system that will allow the consistant induction of follicular growth, collection of oocytes, collection of sperm and in vitro fertilization to produce embryos in such numbers that they can be studied to ascertain the basic embryological development in the squirrel monkey. For various ethical reasons such studies cannot be done with humans.
The specific aims of these studies are: 1) to determine the primate-required development factors necessary for the progression of the embryos to the later stages of preimplantation; 2) to determine the chromosomal normality of in vitro fertilized embryos at varying stages of development; 3) to ascertain the cause of polyspermy which exists in in vitro fertilization systems of nearly all animal and human species that have been studied and determine methods to reduce this polyspermy; and 4) to determine the fertilizable normality of superovulated oocytes in the primate as a possible source of larger numbers of embryos for experimental testing. The work will utilize laparoscopic techniques for egg recovery and culture procedures used successfully over the previous nine years of work supported by this grant. While the results of this work may have clinical significance and relevance to human in vitro fertilization research, it's primary thrust is oriented towards the basic physiology of the primate embryo itself.
