[Normal mice derived from oocytes following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)]

This paper describes the use of piezo-driven micropipette for intracytoplasmic sperm injection of mice eggs. The head of fresh spermatozoa from KM (Kunming) fertile mice was individually injected into mature oocytes of hybrid mice B6D2F1. Approximately eighty three percent of sperm-injected oocytes survived, and 84.0% of them fertilized normally (extrusion of the second polar body and formation of male and female pronuclei). The eggs fertilized by sperm injection could develop in vitro to 2-cell (98% vs 94.7%), 4-cell (89.5% vs 92.1%) stages, no significantly (P > 0.05) different from embryos fertilized in vivo but there were significantly (P < 0.01) few morulae (63.8% vs 84.2%) and blastocysts (25.7% vs 68.4%) developed in vitro after further culture in vitro in the group of ICSI. When 120 embryos at the pronuclear stage were transferred to seven pseudopregnant KM female, 23.3% of the embryos (0 - 50%, depending on the host) reached the full term. Except for three that were cannibalized soon after birth, all of the young (25 pups) developed into normal and fertile adult. Here we report the first birth of mouse offspring following ICSI in China. These studies may increase understanding of the fertilization process and of how ICSI works.