Achieve Successful Fertilization with IVF-resistant Mouse Strains

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Boost IVF Efficiency in Resistant Mouse Strains

Maintaining and propagating valuable mouse lines through in vitro fertilization (IVF) is essential for advancing biomedical research. However, certain strains — especially C57BL/6 — are notoriously inefficient in standard IVF protocols.

Cosmo Bio USA offers a complete solution with Kyudo/Card reagents, designed to improve mouse sperm cryopreservation, thawing, and IVF outcomes. These reagents significantly increase fertilization rates using both frozen-thawed and fresh sperm, even in challenging strains.

Our Reagent System includes:

• CARD FERTIUP® CPA: A cryoprotectant that protects mouse spermatozoa during freezing and thawing, reducing cellular damage and preserving fertility potential.

• CARD FERTIUP® PM: A pre-incubation medium that enhances the fertilizing ability of mouse sperm before IVF.

• CARD MEDIUM®: A high-performance fertilization medium that acts on the oocyte pellucida to improve oocyte receptivity and fertilization success.
  
  Used together, these reagents enable efficient, low-cost cryopreservation and IVF for transgenic (Tg), knockout (KO), and IVF-resistant mouse lines — helping researchers preserve genetic integrity and accelerate their studies.
  
  

Accelerate Your Research Projects with Cost-Effective IVF and Rapid Colony Expansion

Key Benefits of the CARD IVF System:

•  High fertilization rate (over 80%)

• Improvements in the management of genetically modified mice (Tg/KO)

• Reduction in labor, facilities, and breeding cost

• Reduction in time required to expand a mouse colony

• Efficient production of strains which are notoriously difficult to breed

 

Quantified Success Across IVF-Resistant Strains

Fertilization rates using CARD FERTIUP® Preincubation Medium and CARD MEDIUM® for fresh and frozen sperm in various strains.

How Researchers Are Using the CARD System

Even strains difficult to obtain via natural crossbreeding can be produced in a short period of time by treating fresh spermatozoa from a male mouse with CARD FERTIUP^® Mouse Preincubation Medium and CARD MEDIUM^®, using the spermatozoa for in vitro fertilization, then transferring the embryos obtained into recipient parents.

You can also produce mouse pups without having a male mouse present by using cauda epididymis delivered safely and inexpensively to your lab using the CARD Cold Temperature Transport Kit.

In this case, it is recommended to incubate cauda epididymis spermatazoa in CARD FERTIUP® Preincubation Medium before in vitro fertilization with CARD MEDIUM. Embryos are then transferred to a female host.

High fertilization rates can be obtained even in strains known for their low in vitro fertilization rates, such as 129 and BALB/c, by preincubating spermatozoa in CARD FERTIUP® Mouse Preincubation Medium and CARD MEDIUM® prior to IVF in CARD MEDIUM®.

Sperm cryopreservation is a practical and cost-effective method of archiving mouse strains in the laboratory. CARD FERTIUP® and CARD MEDIUM® are high-performance media for mouse sperm cryopreservation, sperm preincubation and in vitro fertilization.

 

When used in combination, CARD FERTIUP® and CARD MEDIUM® provide high and stable fertilization rates using frozen-thawed mouse sperm, with greatly improved fertilization rates for frozen-thawed sperm in C57BL/6 and 129 Mice strains, from less than 10% (using conventional methods) to more than 30%.

Using all three Power Trio reagents can enhance fertility rates to over 80%.

 

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Ordering Information

CARD FERTIUP® Cryoprotectant : CPA

CARD FERTIUP® Cryoprotectant is a cryopreservation solution for mouse sperm that reduces sperm damage during freezing.
Improves sperm survival after thawing and subsequent in vitro fertilization. Sperm can be cryopreserved with high survival rates even with C57BL/6 and 129 lines, which have low survival rates in conventional sperm freezing. Storage of genetic resources with frozen sperm is simpler than the method of storing fertilized eggs, and can be reduced to 1/30 or less compared to the cost of maintaining it in vivo. It is also used as a preparation for system disconnection and natural disasters due to unexpected accidents.

For Mouse Sperm Thawing and Pre-IVF Culture
CARD FERTIUP® Preincubation Media : PM

CARD FERTIUP® Mouse Preincubation Medium : Mouse sperm preculture medium. This is a preculture medium that enhances the acquisition of fertility of mouse sperm. When used for in vitro fertilization with C57BL/6 mouse sperm prepared using CARD FERTIUP ® Mouse Sperm Cryopreservation Solution, an in vitro fertilization rate of 30% or more can be expected and efficient mouse fertilized eggs can be obtained. It is effective not only for sperm that have undergone freeze-thaw, but also for in vitro fertilization using fresh sperm, as it significantly increases the fertilizing ability of spermatozoa.

For MOUSE In Vitro Fertilization Procedure
CARD Medium

CARD MEDIUM works on the zona pellucida of oocytes to make them easier to fertilize.

Kit Components:Ampoule with medium (A): 3 mL/Vial of powdered material (B): 30 mg/1.5mL plastic tube (C)/1.5mL plastic tube (D)/2.5mL disposable syringe/Needle/Filter unit (pore size: 0.22µm)

For Mouse: Sperm Thawing and Pre-IVF culture + IVF Procedure
CARD FERTIUP® Preincubation Media : PM

Fertiup® Cryoprotectant is a cryopreservation solution for mouse sperm that reduces sperm damage during freezing. Improves sperm survival after thawing and subsequent in vitro fertilization. Sperm can be cryopreserved with high survival rate even with the C57BL / 6 and 129 lines, which were said to have low survival rates in conventional sperm freezing. Storage of genetic resources with frozen sperm is simpler than the method of storing fertilized eggs, and can be reduced to 1/30 or less compared to the cost of maintaining it in vivo. It is also used as a preparation for system disconnection and natural disasters due to unexpected accidents.

High performance in vitro fertilization medium This is an in vitro fertilization medium that acts on the zona pellucida of the egg during in vitro fertilization and improves the fertilization rate. Effective for various strains including C57/BL6 strain mouse. After fertilization, we have confirmed in vitro culture tests that normal development occurs from the pronuclear stage to the blastocyst. For in vitro fertilization between C57BL/6 mice , in vitro fertilization rate of 80% or more can be obtained by using CARD FERTIUP® mouse sperm preculture medium together.

The mouse sperm cryopreservation and in vitro fertilization system using CARD FERTIUP ® and CARD MEDIUM ® conserves the valuable genetic resources of mice.

For Mouse: Sperm Thawing and Pre-IVF culture + IVF Procedure
CARD FERTIUP® Preincubation Media : PM

CARD HyperOva® - a better superovulation reagent
CARD HyperOva® FD - a better superovulation reagent in a new, convenient freeze-dried format

CARD HyperOva® is an ultra-superovulation reagent that induces superovulation at higher efficiency than conventional methods with PMSG-hCG. Treatment with CARD HyperOva® yields 3-4 times more oocytes on average with C57BL/6J mice and is also effective with other strains. Moreover, further gains in efficiency can be realized by using CARD Medium during the IVF procedure.