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| The research progress of whole embryo culture tool and its application |
| Received:June 11, 2009 Revised:November 06, 2009 |
| DOI： |
| KeyWord:whole embryo culture (WEC), embryonic development, reproductive toxicity, safety evaluation |
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| Abstract: |
| Whole embryo culture (WEC) is an experimental tool, which is made use of embryos in vitro to replace whole animals to investigate the growth and development of early organs, the embryo toxicity of chemical materials and the mechanism of the occurrence of embryo toxicity. Compared with experiment with whole animals, WEC could reduce the number of experimental animals, shorten experimental time, decrease experimental expenses, eliminate disturbing factors, control dosage more exactly. So it is generally received that WEC tool is a good experimental method to match the principles of replacement, reduction, refinement and responsibility. WEC tool is proposed by Nicholas and Rudnick in 1930s, but they did not achieve success, the embryos cultured in vitro had a low survival rate. It is until 1960s New and his colleagues made some important improvement on this tool, which made it become reality that the embryos cultured in vitro had a high survival rate and similarity of growth and development with embryos in vivo. After that this tool was received generally research and application. This article is a review of the WEC tool of rat and mouse, including the development of this tool, announcements, and the application in the development of organs, the embryo toxicity of environmental pollution and heavy metal, safety evaluation of medicine and the embryo toxicity of traditional Chinese medicine and its mechanism. There is also a discussion of the application of this tool in the investigation of the embryo toxicity of traditional Chinese medicine. |
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