Abstract
This experiment was performed to develop simple practical methods for short term preservation of rabbit embryos. A total of 55 cross bred does were superovulated by intramuscular injection of PMSG and HCG. Embryos were recovered at 25~30 hrs, 60~65 hrs and 80~85 hrs after mating and selected by morphological examination. Four cell stage, morulae and blastocyst embryos were stored in PBS enrich with 1, 10, 20 and 40% heat-treated FCS at 4, 20, 30 and 37$^{\circ}C$, respectively. Embryos were examined morphologically at 24, 48 and 72 hrs following storage. The result obtained in this experiment were summarized as follows: The superovulation was induced by PMSG 200 IU and HCG 100 IU. The average number of ovulation points and embryos recovered by collection time were 19.0, 15.6(25~30 hr), 17.3, 13.5(60~65 hr) and 19.2, 14.4(80~85 hr), respectively. And recovery rates of embryos recovered at 25~30 hr, 60~65 hr and 80~85 hr after mating were 62.8%(4 cell), 84.7%(morulae) and 79.6%(blastocyst), respectively. On the other hand, the average number of ovulation points collected by the no, of operations for the repeated collection was 17.3(60~65 hr), 19.2(80~85 hr) in 1st and 9.4(60~65 hr), 10.6(80~85 hr) in 2nd surgery, respectively. There was a significant decrease(P<0.05) in the number of ovulation points the 2nd surgery as compared to the 1st surgery. All of the 4-cell stage embryos stored at 4$^{\circ}C$ for 48 hrs showed the same morphology throught the storage period, on the contrary, 4-cell stage embryos stored at 2$0^{\circ}C$ and 3$0^{\circ}C$ for 48 hrs showed degeneration embryos and stored at 37$^{\circ}C$ for 24 hrs showed degeneration embryos. Morulae and blastodcyst stored at 4, 20, 30 and 37$^{\circ}C$ for 24 hrs showed degeneration embryos. All of the blastocyst stored at 37$^{\circ}C$ for 72 hrs showed degeneration embryos.