Does Ca/Mg-free medium have an effect on the survival of the preimplantation mouse embryo after biopsy?

The way in which the different technical aspects of clinicalpreimplantation genetic diagnosis affect the survival of thebiopsied embryos is not well understood. One of these aspectsis the influence of Ca²⁺/Mg²⁺-free medium on the developmentalcapacity of the biopsied embryo and the biopsied cell itself.Therefore, we used an experimental design involving 4-cell mouseembryos to evaluate the effect of performing the biopsy procedureunder such conditions. Our results indicate that the use ofCa²⁺/Mg²⁺-free medium has no detrimental effect (at least inmouse embryos) on the viability of the biopsied embryos andtheir biopsied cells when used during relatively short timesof exposure.