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Updated: Aug 14, 2026
Optimized Ex-ovo Culturing of Chick Embryos to Advanced Stages of Development
Published on: January 24, 2015
Developmental changes in amniotic and allantoic fluid insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I and -II concentrations of
D M Karcher1, J P McMurtry, T J Applegate
1Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. dkarcher@purdue.edu
Abstract:
In the literature, IGFs in the developing embryo are usually determined by blood serum concentrations. For this study, IGF-I/-II was quantified in the amniotic and allantoic fluids of fertile commercial broiler chicken (Gallus domesticus) (n=222), Pekin duck (Anas platyrhyncha) (n=250), and turkey (Meleagridis gallopavo) eggs (n= 200) during incubation. Amniotic and allantoic fluids were collected from embryos starting at 6 days of incubation for chickens and 8 days of incubation for ducks and turkeys. IGF concentrations within the fluids were determined by radioimmunoassay. Chicken amniotic IGF-I concentration at stage 29 of development was significantly higher (P< or =0.05) than the duck or turkey. At stage 36 of development the concentration of IGF-II in the amniotic fluid was 2.8 times greater in the chicken versus the duck (P< or =0.05) and 2 times greater than in the turkey (P< or =0.05). Within species, chicken IGF-I concentration in the amniotic fluid had a cubic trend (P< or =0.001), duck IGF-I increased linearly (P< or =0.001), and turkey concentrations declined quadratically (P< or =0.001) throughout development. In all species, the IGF-II concentration was higher than the IGF-I concentration in the amniotic and allantoic fluids.
