Effect of glutamine on preimplantation mouse embryo development in vitro

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to study the independent effect of the amino acid glutamine on preimplantation mouse embryo development in vitro. Study design: Two-cell stage mouse embryos were cultured in human tubal fluid medium in the presence and absence of 1 mmol/L of glutamine. Outcomes for morphology and cleavage rates were compared with Fisher's and Mann-Whitney's tests, respectively. Results: Glutamine increased the proportion of embryos that developed to the blastocyst stage (86.4%) compared with those cultured without glutamine (59.1%) (P=.052). The percentages of embryos developing to the morula or hatching blastocyst stages were comparable in the 2 groups. Blastocyst total cell numbers were significantly higher in the glutamine group (34 +/- 1.7 vs 18.5 +/- 3.5, respectively; values are mean +/- SEM, P=.044). Conclusion: The amino acid glutamine independently improves preimplantation mouse embryo development in vitro. Further studies are needed to examine the applicability of these results to humans. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.