The world is filled with birds in all shapes and sizes, chirping, fluttering, and flying. These fascinating creatures, descendants of the dinosaurs, have managed to colonize every corner of the planet. Yet, part of their reproductive process what happens inside the opaque eggshell remains a mystery.
Now, a team of scientists has made a remarkable breakthrough, finally achieving a long-sought goal in avian biology. They’ve developed a shell-less culture system (SLCS) for domestic white leghorn chickens (Gallus domesticus), allowing the observation of a chick’s development from zygote to hatchling without the need for an eggshell. The team’s success was so significant that several chicks hatched and grew into normal chickens using this system.
Scientists have been working on SLCS for decades. One promising approach emerged in 2014, which involved removing embryos from their shells after three days of incubation and transferring them to a culture vessel covered with polymethylpentene (a type of kitchen cling film). However, the success rate of hatching healthy chicks was low.
Veterinary scientist Katsuya Obara and his colleague Chizuka Obara from Okayama University of Science led a team that solved the key problem impeding chick development: the drying out of the yolk vitelline membrane, a crucial protective layer around the developing embryo.
To overcome this challenge, the team introduced continuous motion by placing the culture vessel on a rotary shaker, which mixed the contents and prevented the membrane from drying. The optimal speed of 10 rotations per minute (rpm) provided the best results, balancing embryo survival and development. When combined with supplemental oxygen and calcium carbonate powder (the material in eggshells), this method significantly increased the hatch rate.
The most successful approach involved a manual element: shaking the culture vessel by hand three to five times every 3 to 10 hours during the first 24 to 48 hours of incubation. This method raised the hatch rate from 3.3% to 10.5%.
One of the chickens hatched using this technique was left to grow for a year. It was later euthanized and examined, revealing that it had developed completely normally. This system has provided a unique window into chick development, offering the potential to observe embryonic growth in real-time through a transparent plastic film.
The researchers believe this advancement opens up exciting new opportunities for a wide range of scientific disciplines, including toxicology, stem cell research, bioimaging, and regenerative medicine. This successful system not only advances our understanding of bird development but also holds promise for future biological and medical breakthroughs.
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