Refinement of a morphological scoring system for postimplantation rabbit conceptuses

2007; Wiley; Volume: 80; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/bdrb.20118

ISSN

2472-1727

Autores

Edward W. Carney, Belén Tornesi, Charles Keller, Heather A. Findlay, William S. Nowland, Valerie A. Marshall, Terence Ozolins,

Tópico(s)

Molecular Biology Techniques and Applications

Resumo

Abstract BACKGROUND: The rabbit is used extensively in developmental toxicity testing, yet basic information on rabbit embryo development is lacking. The goals of this study were to refine a rabbit embryo morphology scoring system, and use it to evaluate rabbit whole embryo cultures (WEC). METHODS: A total of 265 conceptuses were harvested between GD 8.0 and 12.0 (coitus = GD 0) at 6‐hr intervals and examined in detail. Discreet developmental landmarks were then established for 18 morphological features and assigned scores ranging from 0 up to 6. The scoring system was then validated on a subset of randomly selected in vivo conceptuses, and was used to evaluate conceptuses grown for 12, 24, 36, or 48 hr in WEC beginning from GD 9.0 or 10.0. A few embryos also were examined using microscopic computed tomography (microCT)‐based virtual histology™ to assess the utility of this technology. RESULTS: Morphology scores of in vivo developed conceptuses increased linearly (r 2 = 0.98) with advancing gestational age, from means of 0.0 on GD 8.0 to 67.9 on GD 12.0. Application of the scoring system, supplemented with evidence from Virtual histology™, indicated that the WEC system supported normal morphological development of rabbit conceptuses. However, when explanted at GD 9, the rate of development was about 20% slower than in vivo, whereas the rate of development in WEC from GD 10 was indistinguishable from in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: This work enhances the evaluation tools available to study mechanisms of normal and abnormal development in this widely used animal testing species. Birth Defects Res (Part B) , 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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