The effect of short- vs. long-term platelet-activating factor exposure on mouse preimplantation embryo development.

Abstract

Preimplantation mouse embryos (n = 1540) were cultured in the presence of platelet-activating factor (PAF) (10(-7)- 10(-14) mol/l) to the hatched blastocyst stage. A dose-dependent negative correlation (-0.75783) relationship between blastocysts and the concentration of PAF was statistically significantly different (p < 0.001). Long-term but not short-term PAF exposure is detrimental to preimplantation Swiss Webster mouse embryos. Short-term PAF (10(-9) mol/l) exposure was found significantly (p < 0.05) to reduce blastocoel diameter. The effect of PAF during preimplantation development may be genotype dependent and be affected by the culture conditions.