In Vitro Culture of Embryos from the Common Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

Abstract

The biology of fertility, early development, and pregnancy is variable across mammalian species. In addition, while the physiology and pathophysiology of human diseases can be investigated in other animal models (principally, rodents), differences between human and lower mammals often present limitations in the applicability of physiological processes from rodent models to human biology. Since 1984, when the first live birth from rhesus monkey in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer was reported (Bavister et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci 81:2218–2222, 1984), there has been progress in the implementation of assisted reproductive technologies with several nonhuman primate (NHP) species that play important roles in biomedical research. In recent years, the significance of this progress has been amplified by the development of genomic editing approaches for facile genetic manipulation of the embryo, including methods now applied to NHPs (Liu et al., Cell Stem Cell 14:323–328, 2014; Niu et al., Cell 156:836–843, 2014). In this review, we summarize current protocols and practices for the common marmoset. It is our intention to provide current state-of-the-art protocols for gamete procurement and in vitro fertilization techniques, so that laboratories wishing to implement experimental embryology in marmoset models will have a basic set of tools with which to initiate such studies.