Embryonic mortality during the pre- and post-implantation periods of pregnancy in mature mice after superovulation.

Abstract

Sexually mature mice were stimulated to superovulate by giving exogenous gonadotrophins at known stages of the oestrous cycle. Untreated animals which ovulated spontaneously served as controls. The number of oocytes ovulated by each female was estimated from counts of the number of CL of pregnancy, and the incidence of embryonic mortality during the pre- and post-implantation stages of pregnancy was assessed from the number of zygotes recovered from the reproductive tract at 2-0 and 4-0 days post coitum and of conceptuses examined at 7-5 and 11-5 days post coitum. The mean number of oocytes ovulated by treated animals was 39-54, compared with 12-80 in controls: in mice which had superovulated, 44% of the ova were lost before implantation compared with about 10% in the controls. Further losses occurred about the time of implantation and at mid-pregnancy and thus the number of embryos classified as normal rarely exceeded the maximum found in controls. Death at mid-pregnancy seemed to be preceded by developmental retardation. The possibility that genetic and environmental factors play a role in embryonic loss after superovulation is discussed.