Figure 3
Survival and in vitro development of vitrified embryos at the 2-, 4-, and 8-cell embryos, morulae, and blastocysts in a sample volume of 15 μL, which were cooled using direct immersion in LN2 at a rate of 7950 °C/min, and warmed with sucrose solution at 50 °C at a rate of 68,850 °C/min. Each bar indicates the percentage of embryos surviving (open bars) and developing to the blastocyst stage (closed bars) after cryopreservation (N = 8–10 experimental runs); numbers in parentheses indicate the number of embryos examined at each developmental stage. Data are shown as means ± SEM. Different lowercase letters indicate a significant difference at P < 0.05. The developmental ability of blastocysts was assessed by determining whether they could develop into expanded blastocysts.
