A faster procedure for preparing amniotic cells for sexing embryos

Abstract

Most procedures in mammalian developmental biology involve the use of embryos from mouse or another species. In many cases, the sex of an embryo must be determined rapidly before carrying out further procedures. For instance, when several embryos of the same sex have to be pooled for RNA purification in gene-expression studies, or for tissue cultures. The time lag before the embryo tissues are used in any of these techniques is critical for accurate experimental results. The PCR-based procedures used to detect Y-linked DNA sequences or chromosome preparations are time consuming and thus clearly unsuitable for this purpose.