By 1882 enough was known about the preimp1antation developmental stages of mammals that a laboratory course was offered to students at the University of Cambridge in which they recovered and examined these stages from rabbits. The course was part of a larger embryology class given by the brilliant young biologist Francis Maitland Balfour. Balfour's research concerned the embryology of the chick, elasmobranchs, and the invertebrate Peripatus. In 1879 Walter Heape, at the age of 25, abandoned a business vocation and joined Balfour's laboratory. A distinguished career followed, for Heape was destined to discover the estrous cycle, perform the first transfer of a mammalian embryo from one female to another, describe the uterine changes in primates during the menstrual cycle, and discover nonspontaneous ovulation. Balfour set Heape to work on the developmental changes in the 5-to 7-day-old rabbit blastocyst (Balfour, 1880). The work was stimulated by different interpretations of development during this period by Van Beneden on the one hand and Kolliker, Rauber, and Lieberkiihn independently on the other. Although they did not resolve the problem, Heape became experienced in handling preimplantation mammalian embryos. Tragedy was soon to strike the laboratory, however, for in 1882 Balfour, at the age of32, lost his life while climbing in the Swiss Alps. Front Matter....Pages i-xi Prologue....Pages 1-9 Collection of Gametes in Laboratory Animals and Preparation of Sperm for In Vitro Fertilization....Pages 11-26 Ovum Collection and Induced Luteal Dysfunction in Primates....Pages 27-39 Analysis of Culture Media for In Vitro Fertilization and Criteria for Success....Pages 41-60 In Vitro Culture of the Zygote and Embryo....Pages 61-79 Mechanisms of Fertilization in Mammals....Pages 81-182 The Mammalian Egg’s Block to Polyspermy....Pages 183-197 Gamete Interaction in the Sea Urchin A Model for Understanding the Molecular Details of Animal Fertilization....Pages 199-232 Awakening of the Invertebrate Egg at Fertilization....Pages 233-255 Chromosome Aberrations and Mammalian Reproduction....Pages 257-272 The Effects of Chromosomal Aneuploidy on Early Development Experimental Approaches....Pages 273-281 Blastocyst Fluid Formation....Pages 283-297 Water and Electrolyte Transport by Pig Chorioallantois....Pages 299-321 Critical Review of Embryo Transfer Procedures with Cattle....Pages 323-353 Epilogue....Pages 355-362 Back Matter....Pages 363-371
