MORPHOLOGICAL AND FUNCTIONAL-CHARACTERIZATION OF BOVINE OVIDUCTAL EPITHELIAL-CELL MONOLAYERS CULTURED ON POLARIZING MEMBRANES

Several characteristics of oviductal cells, cultured under either pola rizing or nonpolarizing conditions, were studied. In vitro produced bo vine embryos tested the embryotrophic abilities of the respective cond itioned media. Conditioned medium from the apical face of polarized ce ll monolayers supported higher rates of development to blastocyst and expanded blastocysts. In contrast, conditioned medium from the basal f ace supported embryo development only to the 8-16 cell stage; however, these embryos were able to continue development to the morula stage w hen cultured in medium from the apical and basal faces, indicating tot al cell confluence and a clear functional polarization. At the ultrast ructural level, cells cultured in polarizing conditions displayed char acteristics nearer to the same cells in vivo and signs of a metabolic activity higher than that in cells cultured under non-polarizing condi tions. It can be concluded that cell-polarization, in our culture cond itions, is beneficial to embryo development.