Article info: Received: 9 November 2012 In revised form: 29 November 2012 Accepted: 30 November 2012 ABSTRACT Optimization of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has become the main goal of contemporary reproductive medicine. The main aspiration of scientists working in the field is to use less intervention to achieve more, and, if possible, in a more cost-effective way. A number of direct...

A decision model was constructed to compare genetic testing and not testing, for the transfer of all suitable embryos, one at a time, from a cycle with up to ten embryos, until a first live birth was achieved or there were no more embryos available (a full cycle). Two strategies were investigated: (i) a fresh transfer with subsequent serial warmed cryopreserved embryo replacement, and (ii) free...

BACKGROUND Pregnancy is widely viewed as dependent upon an intimate dialogue, mediated by locally secreted factors between a developmentally competent embryo and a receptive endometrium. Reproductive success in humans is however limited, largely because of the high prevalence of chromosomally abnormal preimplantation embryos. Moreover, the transient period of endometrial receptivity in humans u...

In this work we studied the changes in the level of abscisic acid (ABA) in the somatic embryos (SE) and in the diploid and triploid zygotic embryos (ZE) of the same cucumber line during embryogenesis and seed maturation. Different stages of seed development were selected according to days after pollination (DAP): 21, 24, 28, 35, 42 and 42 plus 14 days of storage for diploid ZE and 35 and 42 plu...

background: despite of higher pregnancy rate after frozen embryo transfer (fet) which is accepted by the majority of researches, the safety of this method and its effect on neonatal outcome is still under debate. objective: the aim of this study was to evaluate pregnancy and neonatal outcome of fet compare to fresh cycles. materials and methods: in this study,1134 patients using fresh et and 28...

Paraquat can cause oxidative stress through redox cycling, and preimplantation embryos are sensitive to oxidative stress in vitro. In this study, the effects of paraquat on preimplantation embryo development were examined. Exposure of preimplantation embryos (collected on the day after ovulation) to paraquat in vitro for 24 h at concentrations as low as 8 microM caused a significant decrease in...

The growth and survival of the preimplantation mammalian embryo may be regulated by several autocrine trophic factors that have redundant or overlapping actions. One of the earliest trophic factors to be produced is embryo-derived platelet-activating factor (1-O-alky-2-acetyl-sn-glyceryl-3-phosphocholine). The addition of platelet-activating factor to embryo culture media exerted a trophic effe...

Thioredoxin-2 (Trx2) is a mitochondrial protein using a dithiol active site to reduce protein disulfides. In addition to the cytoprotective function of this enzyme, several studies have highlighted the implication of Trx2 in cellular signaling events. In particular, growing evidence points to such roles of redox enzymes in developmental processes taking place in the central nervous system. Here...

BACKGROUND Triplet pregnancies are associated with a high risk of miscarriage and early preterm birth. It is uncertain if the outcome is improved by embryo reduction (ER). METHODS We examined trichorionic triplet pregnancies with three live fetuses at 10-14 weeks of gestation that were managed expectantly or by ER. The two groups were compared for the rates of miscarriage, defined as pregnanc...

objective: in previous studies it has been emphasized that the site of morphine action may be either in the embryo or the placenta. in the present study, we attempt to identify the site of morphine action on the fetal section of wistar rat placenta by using c14-morphine. materials and methods: in this study (experimental), female wistar rats (weights: 170-200 g) were mated with male rats and th...