The sensitive technique of mRNA phenotyping with the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was employed to determine the patterns of gene expression for several growth factor ligand and receptor genes during bovine preimplantation development. Several thousand bovine embryos encompassing a developmental series from one-cell zygotes to hatched blastocysts were produced by the application of in vitro maturation, fertilization, and oviductal epithelial cell embryo coculture methods. Transcripts for transforming growth factor (TGF-alpha) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-A) are detectable in all preimplantation bovine stages as observed in the mouse. Transcripts for TGF-beta 2 and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-II) and the receptors for PDGF-alpha, insulin, IGF-I, and IGF-II are also detectable throughout bovine preimplantation development, suggesting that these mRNAs are products of both the maternal and the embryonic genomes in the cow, whereas in the mouse they are present only following the activation of the embryonic genome at the two-cell stage. In contrast to the mouse embryo, IGF-I mRNA was detected within preimplantation bovine embryos. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a maternal message in the bovine embryo, since it is only detectable up until the eight-cell embryo stage. Bovine trophoblast protein (bTP) mRNA was detectable within day 8 bovine blastocysts. As was observed in the mouse, the transcripts for insulin, epidermal growth factor (EGF), or nerve growth factor (NGF) were not detectable in any bovine embryo stage. Analyses of this type should aid the development of a completely defined culture medium for the more efficient production of preimplantation bovine embryos.