Chromosome abnormalities of early rabbit embryos.

Blastocysts recovered six days after fertilization from five California and four Dutch-Belted does were used to study the chromosome aberrations of early rabbit embryos. The nine does had a mean ovulation rate of 8.8 ± 0.7 (range 7 to 14). On the basis of corpora lutea counts, 95% of the embryos were recovered. Anomalies were found in nine of the 75 embryos recovered; there being two cases of hypoploidy (2n = 43), four cases of double hypoploidy (2n = 42), and three cases of mosaicism. In addition to the chromosomally abnormal embryos, three embryos could not be cultured successfully and appeared to be degenerating.