Jeffrey Boldt

SUCCESS RATES FOLLOWING INTRACYTOPLASMIC SPERM INJECTION ARE IMPROVED BY USING ZIFT VS. IVF FOR EMBRYO TRANSFER

AbstractPurpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze whether the mode of embryo transfer (ZIFT vs IVF) affected the outcome in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. Methods and Results: Eighty-two ICSI cycles (42 ZIFT and 40 IVF) were analyzed. Several variables, including patient age and weight, numbers of mature eggs collected, injected, and fertilized, fertilization rate, number of fertilized eggs obtained per cycle, numbers of zygotes/embryos transferred, clinical pregnancy rate, and implantation rate, were compared. Mean patient age and weight were identical. The mean number of mature eggs collected and injected and fertilization rate were significantly higher in the ZIFT group, however, the mean numbers of zygotes/embryos transferred were identical. The clinical pregnancy and implantation rates in ZIFT cycles (52.3 and 23.2% respectively) were significantly higher than in IVF cycles (17.5 and 9.7%). Conclusions: These data suggest that ZIFT is the more appropriate method for transfer of ICSI-derived embryos.

Transporting Vitrified Murine Oocytes Reduces Their Overall Survival on Thawing [158]

INTRODUCTION: Vitrification is the standard of care for freezing oocytes and survival rates of thawed oocytes have increased compared with the older method of slow freezing. The objective is to identify if by forming a glassy state induced with vitrification, are the oocytes at greater risk for microarray fracturing with shipment? MATERIALS AND METHOD: Eighty mouse eggs were commercially obtained, thawed, vitrified, then divided into two groups where group 1 (study) was placed in a vapor nitrogen shipper and carried around in a vehicle for 1 week. Group 2 (control) was placed in a separate shipper but was never moved from the laboratory. All oocytes were thawed and then examined for viability. To reduce costs, reused CryoLeafs were used in each group with placement of six to seven oocytes on each straw, which increased the time necessary to complete freezing and thawing. RESULTS: Of the 80 mouse oocytes, 73 survived the initial thaw and then were refrozen. In group 1 (study), 10 of 36 (27%) survived the second thaw and in group 2 (control), 20 of 37 (54%) survived the second thaw. These differences were significant by &khgr;2 analysis with P<.05. CONCLUSION: The transport of vitrified mouse oocytes lowers overall survival on thawing and the oocytes may be more susceptible to damage from transport because of the induced glass-like state. The low percentage of eggs surviving in each group was the result of many factors including the fact that increased number of oocytes on each Cryoleaf required extra time to freeze and thaw, which led to the overall low survival.

Increased Time for Blastocyst Maturation Leads to Decreased Live Births When Comparing Frozen Transfers of Blastocysts on Day 5 and Day 6 [159].

INTRODUCTION: Studies have shown greater live births in frozen embryo transfers when transferred at the blastocyst stage (day 5–6) compared with the cleavage stage. Women who undergo fresh embryo transfers and have embryos left can undergo vitrification and then place them at a later cycle. The objective is to compare data from blastocysts that mature by day 5 with those at day 6 and the success rate determined by a positive serum &bgr;-hCG. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was done. Forty-seven women underwent in vitro fertilization using a frozen transfer between the ages of 25 and 45 years. Transfers were made from blastocysts that were vitrified at days 5 or 6 depending on the length of time it took for the fertilized oocyte to divide into a blastocyst. Serum &bgr;-hCGs were obtained for each patient 4 weeks after the transfer to determine pregnancy outcomes. RESULTS: Twenty-nine blastocysts were transferred after vitrification on day 6 and 18 blastocysts were transferred on day 5. For the day 5 blastocysts transferred, 14 patients out of 18 (77%) had a positive pregnancy test as opposed to only 13 patients out of 29 (44.8%) transferred from day 6 blastocysts with a &khgr;2 of 0.02. CONCLUSION: Pregnancies are less likely to occur if day 6 blastocysts are used compared with day 5 blastocysts at the time of subsequent frozen embryo transfer. This difference in pregnancy rate may be the result of the better blastocysts developing sooner.

Erratum to: Oocyte cryopreservation: is it time to remove its experimental label?

Erratum to: J Assist Reprod Genet Volume 27 Issue 2-3 (February/March 2010) page 73 DOI 10.1007/s10815-009-9382-y The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. Reference number 19 should be: Kuleshova L, Gianaroli L, Magli C, Ferraretti A, Trounson A. Birth following vitrification of a small number of human oocytes: case report. Hum Reprod. 1999;14:3077–9. The paper was published in 1999, so 2002 on the published article should be replaced with 1999.

Influence of growth factors in defined culture medium on in vitro development of mouse embryos**Supported by a Biomedical Research Support grant from the Medical College of Georgia.

Two-cell mouse embryos were cultured in Hams F-10 medium (Gibco, Grand Island, NY) supplemented with various concentrations of transferrin, insulin, epidermal growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, or fibroblast growth factor. Rates of development and the cell numbers per blastocyst were compared between embryos cultured in Hams F-10 alone versus growth factor (GF) supplemented media. Rates of development in the presence of GF were inhibited significantly in some cases, and the cell numbers per blastocyst were identical in all groups. When compared with in vivo derived blastocysts, however, all in vitro cultured embryos had significantly less cells per embryo. These results suggest that GF supplementation of media for culture of early preimplantation embryos does not stimulate the rate of embryonic development in vitro.

Flow cytometric analysis of induced human graafian follicles. I. Demonstration and sorting of two luteinized cell populations**Funded by Biomedical Research Support grant no. 5-07-RR05635-27, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C.††Presented in part at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, St. Louis, Missouri, March 21 to 24, 1990.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that induced human graafian follicles consist of different steroidogenic cell types on the basis of their light scatter characteristics as determined by flow cytometry. DESIGN Cross-sectional, observational study. SETTING Flow cytometry laboratory. PATIENTS Thirty-six follicular aspirates from nine consecutive patients undergoing in vitro fertilization for tubal factor infertility were evaluated. RESULTS Two distinct luteal cell populations were recovered. Both populations were positive by Oil Red O staining, suggesting the presence of intracellular lipid. Neither population stained positively for the presence of HLe-1/CD45, an antigen present on all human leukocytes. CONCLUSIONS Cellular heterogeneity exists within the granulosa cell compartment.