Improved Services

Hyper-ovulation of egg donors

To continue to address the 3R’s and to reduce the cost of our services, the TMF uses hyper-ovulation to produce oocytes and zygotes for different services. The difference between conventional superovulation and hyperovulation is the inclusion of an antibody against inhibin, which is administered along with the PMSG. During superovulation, exposure to FSH induces synthesis of inhibin which inhibits secretion of endogenous FSH from the anterior pituitary. Addition of antisera against inhibin blocks this process, producing an increase in oocytes recovered per mouse. For example, during re-derivation via IVF, the TMF can reduce the number of females used as egg donors from 12-14 down to 5 – 6, a 50% reduction. We obtain our hyperovulation reagents from Cosmo Bio Ltd. See Takeo & Nakagata (2015) PLoS One 10: e0128330 for more details.