Ex Ovo Culture System for Avian Embryos and its Application

Ex ovo culture of avian embryos can be applied not only to embryology but also to various fields of basic research such as embryo manipulation, toxicology, and regenerative medicine. The windowing method, which facilitates various manipulations and observations by opening a hole in one part of the eggshell, and culture systems using surrogate eggshells, are widely used. Despite this, biology lessons in high schools cover shell-less culture systems, which involve the development of avian embryos in artificial vessels, such as rice bowls, without using surrogate eggshells. However, as embryo development stops at its early stages in this method, it is not possible to continuously observe the development of the embryo. This led to attempts to develop an embryo culture method using a complete artificial culture vessel that does not use surrogate eggshells, and Kamihira et al. (1998) succeeded in hatching quail embryos in an artificial culture vessel using polytetrafluoroethylene membranes. In addition, Tahara succeeded in hatching chick embryos in artificial culture vessels that used cling film made of polymethylpentene and reported their detailed methodology (Tahara and Obara, 2014). These technologies are being applied not only to school education but also to various fields of research.