Porcine in vitro fertilization: Advances in medium, components and equipment

There have been a number of modifications to in vitro fertilization (IVF) systems to allow efficient production of viable porcine embryos. Although in vitro production of pig embryos has been studied for over 20 years, the overall blastocyst production rate remains low. This is mainly due to two physiological events: polyspermic oocyte penetration and low rate of male pronucleus formation. Both of these pathological conditions appear to be inherent problems in the porcine in vitro production system and many of the mechanisms involved are still unknown. Many scientists have investigated the medium and techniques used during the various stages of in vitro production, but improvements to the equipment used during IVF remained unchanged until recently. This chapter discusses the preparation of spermatozoa, co-incubation times, changes in media composition, and development of modified equipment to improve the conditions used during IVF of porcine oocytes.