Pregnancy achieved by transferring blastocysts into endometrial stroma in mice

Abstract

To prevent the extra-uterine discharge of transferred embryos, we directly inserted mouse embryos into the endometrial stroma (intra-endometrial embryo transfer). A 27G injection needle was inserted near the utero-tubal junction into the endometrial stroma. After removal of the needle, a glass micropipette was inserted and one embryo was transferred with a very small amount of culture medium. To determine the feasibility of this method, the uterine lumen was flushed with phosphate-buffered saline from the tubal ends immediately after transferring blastocysts into pseudopregnant mice on day 2 and day 4. The rates of recovery of embryos from the uterine lumen were 5.0% (1/20; day 4) and 15.0% (3/20; day 2). These results suggest that a high rate of intra-endometrial embryo transfer is possible. The embryonic viability rates (number of viable grown fetuses/number of blastocysts transferred) of this method were 50.0% (28/56; day 4) and 25.0% (5/20; day 2). Living offspring were delivered from both recipients which had received embryos on day 2 and day 4 of pseudopregnancy. In human in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer, attempts have also been made to immobilize the embryos, and this method might be clinically applicable. Moreover, this method will be a good in-vivo model for studies on the mechanism of implantation.