Plating efficiency of mouse embryo cells as a function of gestational age

Summary Mouse embryo cells can be plated directly from single-cell suspensions of fresh embryos. For randomly bred Swiss mice, there is an increase in plating efficiency as a function of gestational age. Colony-forming units appear at about day 10 and there is an exponential increase in colony-forming ability up to day 16, after which there is no further increase.The technical assistance of Ms.Helen Sandza is gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (No. CA13053).