In vitro Production of Grivet Monkey (C hlorocebus aethiops) Embryo

The grivet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops), a non-human primate (NHP), has contributed sig-nificantly as an animal model in a variety of biological systems due to its similarities with human.

This study was designed to establish a detailed procedure for in vitro maturation (IVM) of germi-nal-vesicle stage oocytes, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in vitro embryo culture (IVC) of grivet monkey.

The reproductive organs were obtained from10 adult male and 4 adult female grivet monkeys after the proper anesthesia. The ovarian follicles were aspirated by aspiration technique or by the means of oocyte recov-ery with centrifugation (ORC). For the sperm recovery, the epididymides were dissected from the testicles and the tails of the epididymides were minced in the sperm washing medium and incubated for 15 min. At the time of insemination, a portion of the pre-incubated spermatozoa (10 μL) was introduced into 90 μL of fertilization medium containing about 20 matured oocytes.

The data on the oocyte recovery rate and IVM showed significant increase (P<0.05) in the COCs recovered via ORC technique (9.8±0.41 and 90.90%) comparedto the recovered COCs using aspiration (4.45±0.32, 80.00%). The results showed similarity in the rate of cleavage in both groups (ORC and aspiration) (71%). The rate of embryo development to the blastocyst stage was significantly higher in the ORC group (43%) compared to the aspiration group (33.33%).

It is concluded that the oocyte recovery technique is of great importance in terms of non-human primates' COCs competence in the in vitro embryo production (IVEP). On the other hand, it is well documented in the current research that the commercial ART medium used in the human infertility clinics is well applicable for the grivet monkey IVEP.