The Effects of Free Radical Scavenger, Rutin, on the Development and the Cell Number of Blastocyst in Mouse Early Embryos.

Hwang, Kyung Joo; Kwon, Hyuck Chan; Ryu, Hee Sug; Kim, Haeng Soo; Yang, Hyun Won; Oh, Kie Suk

Original Article

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 1997;40(5):941-946.
Published online January 1, 2001.

The Effects of Free Radical Scavenger, Rutin, on the Development and the Cell Number of Blastocyst in Mouse Early Embryos.

Kyung Joo Hwang, Hyuck Chan Kwon, Hee Sug Ryu, Haeng Soo Kim, Hyun Won Yang, Kie Suk Oh

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Swon, Korea.

Abstract

It is well known that developmental delay or arrest occurs before implantation inmammals, which have undergone in vitro culture. Recently, these phenomenon are being attributedto oxygen free radicals, and successful cell culture are being obtained by lowering theoxygen environment of in vitro culture. This is due to the fact that the oxygen concentrationin the fallopian tube is around 5%, which is lower than the room air 20% concentrationfor in vitro culture.Rutin, which is a free radical scavenger, was added to early embryo mice culture andcompared the free radical level at blastocyst stage with that of different culture conditions,and found that free radical level was markedly decreased. Also, there was increased embryodevelopment with decreasing free radical levels in the experimental group, and there wassignificant increase in the blastulation rate and blastomere count.This study therefore suggests the possibility of improved in in-vitro embryo culture.

Key Words: Oxygen free radicals, Rutin, Free radical scavenger, Blastulation rate, Blastomere count