PURPOSE To evaluate the epigenetic risk linked to assisted reproductive technology (ART) at single-embryo level by analyzing the methylation status of imprinted H19, PEG1, and KvDMR1 in human preimplantation embryos. METHODS A total of 254 human day 3 embryos produced by ART procedures were collected. All embryos were normally fertilized but unsuitable for transfer or freezing due to poor qua...

BACKGROUND To test whether poor quality day-3 embryos can undergo successful blastulation and implantation. METHODS A prospective cohort study was conducted. Whether or not a good quality embryo was transferred on day-3, poor quality (rejected) embryos were further cultured and followed. The clinical outcome of each embryo was assessed. RESULTS A total of 694 rejected embryos (from 205 pati...

Human embryos for hESC derivation are often donated at the cleavage stage and of reduced quality. Poor quality embryos have lower efficiency for hESC derivation. However, cleavage stage mouse embryos develop into higher quality expanded blastocysts if they are cultured with insulin, suggesting that this approach could be used to improve hESC derivation from poor quality cleavage stage embryos. ...

Background. Patients with poor ovarian response to ovarian hyperstimulation represent an interesting group for studying the impact of embryo cleavage irregularities on clinical outcome since all embryos, regardless of their quality, are usually transferred to the uterus. The aim of our study was to follow the morphokinetics of fertilized oocytes from natural cycles in poor responders. Methods. ...

Background: Chromosome abnormalities are associated with poor morphology and development in human preimplantation embryos, all together lead to poor outcomes. This study aimed to explore altered expression of DNA damage pathways in “poor morphological and development embryos with sever aneuploidies”. Materials and Methods: Surplus day-4 embryos of PGD cases were pooled in two groups: Poor progn...

A retrospective study of 5,982 embryos in 619 blastocyst-stage embryo transfer cycles revealed that detection of multinucleated blastomeres either on day 2 or 3 signifies a poor prognosis for blastocyst formation and that no good-quality blastocyst can be expected from an embryo with more than one multinucleated blastomere. Patients should be counseled regarding a poor prognosis when multiple e...

A prospective cohort study has been performed to find out if the administration of an oxytocin antagonist (Atosiban) at the occasion of embryo transfer has an effect on the pregnancy rate in patients with repeated failure of implantation. A total of 52 women with repeated failure of implantation after IVF/ICSI were included in this study. The ongoing pregnancy rate (OPR) in the total group of p...

Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) represent the best chance for infertile couples to conceive, although increased risks for morbidities exist, including imprinting disorders. This increased risk could arise from ARTs disrupting genomic imprints during gametogenesis or preimplantation. The few studies examining ART effects on genomic imprinting primarily assessed poor quality human embry...