Suppressed development of cultured mouse and swine embryos by diethylstilbestrol

Effects of prolonged exposure to the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) on in vitro development of early mouse and swine embryos were investigated. Two-cell mouse embryos cultured in Whitten's medium (WM) for 192 h were exposed to 10(-4), 10(-7) or 10(-10) M DES dissolved in 1, 10(-3) or 10(-6)% ethanol, respectively. One-cell to eight-cell swine embryos were cultured in WM for 192 h containing 10(-4) or 10(-7) M DES dissolved in 1 and 10(-3)% ethanol, respectively. Embryos cultured in WM containing 1 (0 DES1), 10(-3) (0 DES2) or 10(-6)% ethanol (0 DES3) served as controls. Hatching was inhibited (P less than .05) in mouse embryos cultured in 10(-4) M DES (3.0 +/- 2.1% vs 0 DES1, 25.1 +/- 3.7%). Similar (P greater than .10) percentages of mouse embryos hatched in 10(-7) M DES (36.4 +/- 5.4% vs 0 DES2, 29.1 +/- 5.7%) and 10(-10) M DES (44.4 +/- 4.4% vs 0 DES3, 38.9 +/- 5.3%). Diethylstilbestrol at a concentration of 10(-4) M failed to affect the development of one- to eight-cell swine embryos into blastocysts. However, compared with 0 DES2, 10(-7) M DES reduced (P less than .05) the number of swine blastocysts developing from one- to two-cell (36 vs 78%) and three- to four-cell embryos (50 vs 84%). No significant effects of 10(-7) M DES were detected on the ability of six- to eight-cell swine embryos to develop into blastocysts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)