Rabbit Embryo Thawing: A Warming Procedure to Recover Cryopreserved Rabbit Embryos for Embryo Transfer

All procedures involving animal models have been reviewed by the local institutional animal care committee and the JoVE veterinary review board.

1. Embryo Warming

1. Thaw the embryos in a single step.
   1. Place the ministraw horizontally 10 cm from liquid nitrogen vapour for 20-30 s.
   2. When the crystallization process begins inside the ministraw, immerse the ministraw in a water bath at 25°C for 10-15 s.
   3. Remove the ministraw plug and cut the cotton plug.
   4. With a coupled microdispenser, expel all the ministraw content into a plate containing 0.33 M sucrose solution at 25°C in BM for 5 minutes.
      NOTE: This step must be done quickly in order to reduce embryo exposure to the vitrification solution. 
   5. Move the embryos to a new plate containing BM solution for another 5 min.