Method of bioassay of fertility and contraceptive drugs

Claim 1

A method of bioassay which comprises mating female and male test mice which are heterozygous +/t12, introducing a test drug into the females within a time which begins before mating and ends within a few days after mating, sacrificing the female animals at various times within a few days of mating, flushing out the contents of the oviducts and of the uterine horns separately, examining all embryos to see whether they have been transported into the uterus precociously, examining any premorula stage embryos and t12/t12 homozygous lethal morulae to determine whether the zona pellucida has been lysed and whether the cells have been dissociated, and counting and examining the normal blastocysts (+/+ and +/t12 genotypes) to see whether attachment to the uterine wall has been initiated.

Claim 2

A method of bioassay which comprises mating female and male test mice which are heterozygous +/t12, introducing a test drug into the females within a time which begins before mating and ends within a few days after mating, sacrificing the female animals at various times within a few days of mating, flushing out the contents of the oviducts and of the uterine horns separately, examining all embryos to see whether they have been transported into the uterus precociously, examining any premorula stage embryos and t12/t12 homozygous lethal morulae to determine whether the zona pellucida has been lysed and whether the cells have been dissociated, and counting and examining the normal blastocysts (+/+ and +/t12 genotypes) to see whether attachment to the uterine wall has been initiated.

Claim 3

A method of bioassay which comprises mating female and male test mice of the BALB/c inbred strain, introducing a test drug into the females within a time which begins before mating and ends within a few days after mating, sacrificing the female mice at various times within a few days of mating, flushing out the contents of the oviducts and of the uterine horns separately, examining all embryos to see whether they have been transported into the uterus precociously, examining those embryos still in cleavage or in morula stages despite their genetic normalcy (+/+ genotypes) to determine whether the zona pellucida has been lysed and also whether the cells have been dissociated, and counting and examining the normal blastocysts to see whether attachment to the uterine wall has been initiated.

Claim 4

A method of bioassay which comprises mating female and male test mice of the BALB/c inbred strain, introducing a test drug into the females within a time which begins before mating and ends within a few days after mating, sacrificing the female mice at various times within a few days of mating, flushing out the contents of the oviducts and of the uterine horns separately, examining all embryos to see whether they have been transported into the uterus precociously, examining those embryos still in cleavage or in morula stages despite their genetic normalcy (+/+ genotypes) to determine whether the zona pellucida has been lysed and also whether the cells have been dissociated, and counting and examining the normal blastocysts to see whether attachment to the uterine wall has been initiated.

Claim 5

A method of bioassay which comprises mating females of any mouse strain or genotype with sterile vasectomized male mice of any strain or genotype, introducing a test drug into the females, within a time beginning before mating and ending within a few days after mating, sacrificing the female animals at various times within a few days of mating, flushing out the contents of the oviducts and of the uterine horns separately, and examining the eggs to see whether they have been transported into the uterus precociously and to see whether the zona pellucida has been lysed.

Claim 6

A method of bioassay which comprises mating females of any mouse strain or genotype with sterile vasectomized male mice of any strain or genotype, introducing a test drug into the females, within a time beginning before mating and ending within a few days after mating, sacrificing the female animals at various times within a few days of mating, flushing out the contents of the oviducts and of the uterine horns separately, and examining the eggs to see whether they have been transported into the uterus precociously and to see whether the zona pellucida has been lysed.