Improved Murine Blastocyst Quality and Development in a Single Culture Medium Compared to Sequential Culture Media.

Objective: Validate single versus sequential culture media for murine embryo development.

Design: Prospective laboratory experiment.

Setting: Assisted Reproduction Laboratory.

Expression and proteasomal degradation of the major vault protein (MVP) in mammalian oocytes and zygotes.

Major vault protein (MVP), also called lung resistance-related protein is a ribonucleoprotein comprising a major part (>70%) of the vault particle. The function of vault particle is not known, although it appears to be involved in multi-drug resistance and cellular signaling. Here we show that MVP is expressed in mammalian, porcine, and human ova and in the porcine preimplantation embryo.