Recent studies indicate a strong paternal influence on embryo development and progression of the embryo to the blastocyst stage. The aim of this study was to compare, during extended culture, the in-vitro development of embryos resulting from intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) of ejaculated spermatozoa (group 1, n = 347), epididymal (group 2, n = 22) or testicular (group 3, n = 18) spermat...

The aim of this study was to review the experience and outcomes of assisted reproduction cycles with embryos grown up to day 5 of development, comparing different parameters according to the ages of the patients. We retrospectively studied 1,874 assisted reproduction cycles where embryo culture was extended up to the fifth or sixth day of development. All IVF and ICSI cycles were included, comp...

Interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) is a useful method to preserve endangered species and to study the reprogramming event of a nuclear donor cell by the oocyte. Although several studies of iSCNT using murine cells and bovine oocytes have been reported, the development of murine-bovine iSCNT embryos beyond the 8-cell stage has not been successful. In this paper, we examined the d...

The techniques of cryopreservation let embryos which cannot be immediately transferred to the patient be stored for future use. The first successful pregnancy after transfer of cryopreserved human embryos was described in 1983 by Trounson et al. and the first birth after cryopreservation was later reported in 1984 by Zeilmaker et al.). The technique has rapidly been applied in most in-vitro fer...

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) still remains a life-threatening complication of in vitro fertilization treatment (IVF), keeping patients and especially those, who previously experienced OHSS, from attempting infertility treatment and childbearing. The recent implementation of four new modalities: the GnRH antagonist protocol, GnRH agonist (GnRHa) triggering of ovulation, blastocyst tr...

The low success rate of animal cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) associates with epigenetic aberrancy, including the abnormal acetylation of histones. Altering the epigenetic status by histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) enhances the developmental potential of SCNT embryos. In the current study, we examined the effects of LBH589 (panobinostat), a novel broad-spectrum HDACi, on ...

BACKGROUND In recent years, single blastocyst transfer combined with vitrification has been applied widely, which can maximize the cumulative pregnancy rate in per oocyte retrieval cycles and minimize the multiple pregnancy rate. Thus, the guarantee for these is the effectiveness of vitrified blastocyst. Studies has shown that AS of the blastocoel cavity prior to vitrification can reduce injuri...

Cycles with progesterone elevation during controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) for IVF/ICSI are commonly managed with a "freeze-all" strategy, due to a well-recognized detrimental effect of high progesterone levels on endometrial receptivity. However, also a detrimental effect of elevated progesterone on day-3 embryo quality has recently been found with regards to top quality embryo formation r...

the aim of this study was to compare the effect of time of parthenogenetic activation (22 hr versus 27 hr after in vitro maturation-ivm) on in vitro development of ovine oocytes using either single (ionomycin 5 ?m for 5 min or ethanol 7% for 7 min) or combined (ionomycin and ethanol with 6-dmap 2 mm for 3 hr) activation treatments. the abattoir-derived in vitro matured activated oocytes were cu...