Preliminary Studies on in Vitro Culture of Fertilized Sheep Ova

Continued development in vitro of recently fertilized ova has been recorded in a number oflaboratory species and Brinster (1965a, 1965b, 1965c, 1965d) has achieved a sufficient degree of success with mouse ova to allow critical studies of the nutritional requirements during development from two cells to blastocysts. Fertilized sheep ova have been successfully stored for short periods between collection and transfer to recipient ewes but there are no reports of continued development of sheep ova during longer periods of in vitro culture.