cavity block

Manipulate the oviducts in a plastic Petri dish or glass cavity block on the heated stage of a binocular directing microscope.

All manipulations are done under a dissecting microscope using glass cavity blocks and glass mouth pipettes (angled if necessary).

Glass cavity blocks (1.25 inches square with concave depression, Hoslabs) are convenient for collecting embryos from large volumes of fluid because the embryos or cells will tend to roll to the centre of the dish.

(ii) Insert a 25-gauge needle attached to a syringe into the lumen of the uterine horn at the ovarian end and flush 0.2-0.5 ml of M2 + BSA through into a plastic Petri dish or glass cavity block.

Embryos tend to stick to the surfaces of micropipettes and cavity blocks when 70% alcohol is reached and it may be more practical to remove and replace the alcohol rather than transfer embryos between cavity blocks.