Recovery of mouse embryos after short-term in vitro exposure to toxic nickel chloride.

The development of preimplantation mouse embryos in vitro was adversely affected by the addition of nickel chloride (NiCl2 X 6H2O) to the culture medium. For day 3 (4-8 cell) embryos developmental cessation occurred after 48 h in culture, in NiCl2 X 6H2O-containing medium. However, transfer to NiCl2 X 6H2O-free medium after 5 min, 1 h, and 3 h exposure, resulted in regaining of the developmental capacity for a proportion of the exposed embryos. The in vivo development, in pseudopregnant recipients, of in vitro nickel-exposed embryos was not significantly different from that in control embryos. The results indicated that the effect of NiCl2 X 6H2O on the development of day 3 mouse embryos in vitro was reversible after a short exposure period.