In vitro fertilization and preimplantation embryo development of African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops)

Ovaries of five adult female African green monkeys were stimulated by repeated administrations of equine chorionic gonadotrophin (eCG), followed by a single administration of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG). Oocytes were collected from enlarged follicles 28 h after hCG administration and incubated in vitro for 288 h. Oocytes that had extruded the first polar body were inseminated with spermatozoa that had been incubated for 4 to 6 h in medium with caffeine and dibutyryl cyclic AMP. Of these oocytes, 66% were fertilized and the incidence of polyspermy was 37%. Eighty-two percent of the fertilized eggs cleaved, with some developing into expanded blastocysts. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.