Experimental studies on the elongation of the ewe blastocyst

After the zona is shed, the ewe blastocyst increases rapidly in diameter and length. The aim of the present study was to examine the control of trophoblast growth. Twelve-day old ovine blastocysts, cut into pieces and cultured in vitro for 24 h, gave rise to structures called trophoblastic vesicles (blastocysts without the embryonic disc). Such trophoblastic vesicles (TV), cultured at least 5 to 10 days or more in vitro, were able to survive. However, they did not increase in length and only some of them began to form small buds. In contrast, after they were transferred surgically into the uterine horn ipsilateral to the corpus luteum on Day 12 of the oestrous cycle, these TV were elongated in 5 out of 7 recipient ewes slaughtered on Day 17. The structure of the TV was observed by scanning electron microscopy before and after in vitro elongation and then compared with that of control blastocysts which had been cultured or not. This study demonstrates that trophoblast elongation does not depend necessarily on the presence of the embryo proper, but can occur in TV composed only of the trophectoderm and the extraembryonic endoderm. The results also suggest that some unknown uterine factor(s) is involved in the development of trophoblastic tissue.