Preliminary study on somatic cell nuclear transfer in rabbits in Thailand.

The objective of the study was to develop the somatic nuclear transfer technique by using rabbits as the model. The oocyte recipients aged 16 h post coitus were collected surgically from 20 superovulated rabbit doe with 28 and 40 mg Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) after mating with a vasectomized male. The metaphase II plate and 1st polar body of oocyte was later aspirated by enucleated micropipette under an inverted microscope. A single donor cell; cumulus cell or cultured or frozen fibroblast cell from passage 1 to 9 were transferred to enucleated oocyte and fused with triple DC pulses, 3.2 kv, 20 micros. The fused embryos were cultivated in TCM 199 NaHCO3 + 10 per cent fetal calf serum (FCS) for 4 days. The cleavage rate (2-cell stage) was 37.2 per cent (32/86) from eight experiments, and 18.8 per cent (6/32) developed to the early morula stage. This study also indicated that the enucleation pipette and the somatic cell type influenced the success.