Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in vitro embryo production in two different defined culture media

In vitro embryo production (IVEP) is largely applied world wide to animal breeding. One of the principal steps of the IVEP is represented by embryo culture (Khurana and Niemann., 2000). In the past, embryos were grown in co-culture systems with other cells such as oviductal epithelial cells, cumulus cells, Buffalo rat liver (BRL) and VERO cells (Duszewska et al., 2000). These cells are able to supply the nutrients for embryo development by their replication and metabolism. Nevertheless, the metabolic activity of these cells is also responsible of an early lowering of pH in the culture medium: that needs to be changed every two days. Furthermore, with this culture system it is impossible to standardize all the procedure: in fact the result is dependent from several variables, as the quality of the cells and their concentration in co-culture. The use of defined culture media is necessary to acquire a better comprehension of metabolism and biochemical requirements for IVEP.......