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Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics
Published in: Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics 8/2013

01-08-2013 | Technological Innovations

A brief history of the development of the KSOM family of media

Author: Michael C. Summers

Published in: Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics | Issue 8/2013

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Excerpt

Hammond (1949) using a physiologic saline solution supplemented with hen egg white and yolk observed that eight cell mouse embryos developed into blastocysts, whereas two-cell embryos typically arrested and did not undergo further development [1]. Whitten (1956) using modified Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate as the physiologic saline supplemented with glucose, penicillin G, streptomycin and egg white confirmed good development of eight-cell embryos into blastocysts [2]. Later, egg white was replaced by bovine serum albumin (BSA). In 1958, McLaren and Biggers showed that mouse blastocysts produced by Whitten’s technique developed into normal adults following transfer to the uteri of surrogate females [3]. The results were unequivocal since genetic markers were used to distinguish mice derived from cultured embryos of one strain and transferring then into surrogates of a different strain. These pioneering studies paved the way for the experimental manipulation of the mammalian preimplantation embryo in vitro. However, the early days of preimplantation mouse embryo culture were complicated by the two cell block to development (reviews [4, 5]). Several unrelated ways were subsequently developed to overcome the two-cell block to development and let to the view that the media being used were not optimal. …
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Metadata
Title
A brief history of the development of the KSOM family of media
Author
Michael C. Summers
Publication date
01-08-2013
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics / Issue 8/2013
Print ISSN: 1058-0468
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7330
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-013-0097-8

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