OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence, developmental potential, chromosomal constitution and clinical outcome of embryos with direct unequal cleavages (DUC). DESIGN A retrospective observational study. SETTING Academic Institution. PARTICIPANT 21,261 embryos from 3,155 cycles cultured in EmbryoScope®. RESULTS The total incidence of DUCs per embryo occupying the first three cleavages w...

Preimplantation is a dynamic developmental period during which a combination of maternal and zygotic factors program the early embryo resulting in lineage specification and implantation. A reverse genetic RNAi screen in mouse embryos identified the WD Repeat Domain 74 gene (Wdr74) as being required for these critical first steps of mammalian development. Knockdown of Wdr74 results in embryos th...

Heat shock may affect different aspects of oocyte maturation and its subsequent development to the blastocyst stage. A series of in vitro experiments was performed to determine whether physiologically heat shock (41°C) disrupts the progression of the ovine oocytes through meiosis, activation and blastocyst formation. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were aspirated from 2-6-mm follicles and cultu...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of patients' lifestyle factors and eating habits on embryo development. A total of 2659 embryos recovered from 269 patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles were included. The frequency of intake of food items and social habits were registered and its influences on embryo development evaluated. The consumption of cereals, veg...

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of rapamycin treatment during in vitro maturation (IVM) on oocyte maturation and embryonic development after parthenogenetic activation (PA) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in pigs. Morphologically good (MGCOCs) and poor oocytes (MPCOCs) were untreated or treated with 1 nM rapamycin during 0-22 h, 22-42 h, or 0-42 h of IVM. Rapamycin ...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to examine the effect of laser-assisted zona thinning (LAZT) at one or four-points on the blastocyst formation and hatching process in mice with respect to female age. METHODS Eight-cell or morula embryos collected from superovulated C57BL female mice with different ages (6-11 and 28-31 weeks) were treated with LAZT at one-point (LAZT1) or four-points (LAZT4). The z...