Birth of piglets from in vitro-produced porcine blastocysts vitrified and warmed in a chemically defined medium.

We examined the effect of different embryo developmental stages, culture periods, and media on the cryotolerance of in vitro-produced porcine blastocysts. All media used for in vitro production, vitrification, and warming were chemically defined. When in vitro-produced embryos at the blastocyst and expanded blastocyst stages were vitrified using the Cryotop method on Day 5 or 6 (Day 0 = the day of IVF), the survival rate and hatching rate of expanded blastocysts after warming were higher than those of blastocysts. The viability after vitrification and warming of Day-6 embryos cultured in porcine blastocyst medium from Day 5 were higher than that of embryos cultured in porcine zygote medium 5. On the other hand, there were no significant differences on the cryotolerance between Day-5 embryos cultured in porcine zygote medium 5 and those replaced with porcine blastocyst medium on Day 4. There were no significant differences in viability between the embryonic ages of 5 and 6 days after vitrification and warming. When expanded blastocysts vitrified on Day 5 or 6 were surgically transferred to recipient gilts, all three recipients became pregnant in the Day-5 group, whereas only one out of three recipients became pregnant in the Day-6 group. These results indicate that the cryotolerance of porcine in vitro-produced blastocysts after vitrification appears to depend on the embryonic stage, culture period, and medium.