Co-culture of human embryos (n = 384 cycles) to the blastocyst stage using Vero cell monolayers was carried out between August 1995 and December 1997. A total of 2868 zygotes were co-cultured and 1027 embryos reached the blastocyst stage (blastocyst formation rate 35.8%). The blastocysts were frozen in 43.7% of patients. A mean of 1.8 blastocysts was transferred per patient and 95 pregnancies w...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine the safety and clinical effect of artificial shrinkage (AS) in terms of assisted hatching of fresh blastocysts. Also, we evaluated the correlation between patient age and the effect of AS on clinical outcome. METHODS Two AS methods, using a 29-gauge needle and laser pulse, were compared. Seventy-three blastocysts were shrunk using a 29-gauge needle and ...

Co-cultures of human embryos, particularly with Vero cells, are used by several French groups, mainly in cases of successive failures of implantation. In most cases co-culture is continued until the blastocyst stage, expanded if possible. A total of 1603 co-cultures have been performed by 11 groups over a 2-year period. Of these, 41.8% of cleaved eggs (day 2) reached the blastocyst stage at day...

The utilization of trophectoderm biopsy combined with comprehensive chromosome screening (CCS) tests for embryonic aneuploidy was recently suggested to improve IVF outcome, however, not without criticisms. The ongoing discussion on the unrestricted clinical adoption of preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) has called for a proper randomized controlled trial (RCT), aiming to further evaluate t...

BACKGROUND It is of fundamental importance for IVF clinics to determine the most viable embryos for transfer. The challenge for ART clinics is to transfer fewer embryos, thereby minimizing the risk of multiple-infant births, while still maintaining the greatest chance of pregnancy for their patients. In this study, an investigation was made to determine if developmental markers on the day of fe...

In vitro embryo production is important for research in animal reproduction, embryo transfer, transgenics, and cloning. Yet, in vitro-fertilized (IVF) embryos are generally developmentally delayed and are inferior to in vivo-derived (IVV) embryos; this discrepancy is likely a result of aberrant gene expression. Transcription of three genes implicated to be important in normal preimplantation em...

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a combination of cytoplasmic lipid removal (delipation) and treatment by a microtubule stabilizer, paclitaxel, would lead to efficient cryopreservation of porcine in vitro matured (IVM) oocytes at the meiosis II (MII) stage. Vitrification and subsequent re-warming and culture of 109 untreated oocytes produced only 9 blastocysts (8.3%). On ...