BACKGROUND Gamete and embryo donors undergo genetic screening procedures in order to maximise the health of donor-conceived offspring. In the era of genomic medicine, expanded genetic screening may be offered to donors for the purpose of avoiding transmission of harmful genetic mutations. The objective of this study was to explore the attitudes of donors and recipients toward the expanded genet...

The aim of this study was to identify predictors of fertilization rate (FR) and embryo quality (EQ) in 126 donor women who underwent 160 intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. Main outcome measures were oocyte dysmorphisms (OD) [perivitelline space (normal/large), perivitelline debris (no/yes), oocyte shape (spherical/non-spherical), zona pellucida (normal/abnormal), first polar body m...

Clinical studies have shown that in pathological conditions such as endometriosis and reproductive tract infection (male and female) there is an activation status of macrophages that produce large quantities of nitric oxide (NO) in addition to other effector molecules. Large amounts of NO may have embryotoxic roles and produce infertility. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of diffe...

Investigations in the rat model of pregnancy indicate an important role for the corpus luteal (CL) hormone relaxin in the maternal circulatory and osmoregulatory changes in pregnancy, which are epitomized by profound vasodilation and modest hypoosmolality, respectively. In a pilot study of infertile women who became pregnant through donor eggs, in vitro fertilization, and embryo transfer, the g...

In order to evaluate the niche of extended embryo culture in an IVF programme, retrospective analysis of non-selected IVF patients, who underwent ovarian stimulation from April 1998 to June 1999 in a single private practice assisted reproductive technology centre, was performed. Embryos were cultured for 48 h in S1/G1.2 medium followed by 48 to 72 h of culture in S2/G2.2 to day 5 or day 6. Only...

OBJECTIVES This review explores the ethical and medical challenges faced by women of advanced maternal age who decide to have children. Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) make post-menopausal pregnancy physiologically plausible, however, one must consider the associated physical, psychological, and sociological factors involved. METHODS A quasi-systematic review was conducted in PubMed...

BACKGROUND Assisted hatching (AH) in fresh embryo transfer (ET) could be associated with increased implantation rates. However, very few prospective randomized studies have specifically addressed the issue of AH during frozen-thawed embryo transfers (FET) cycles, those that have reported controversial results. The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefit of an enzymatic zona pellucida trea...

Background The occurrence of hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets (HELLP) syndrome before 20 weeks of gestation is rare. HELLP is a possible but rare syndrome in gestational surrogate pregnancies for surrogates with risk factors for development of preeclampsia. Case A 32-year-old patient with chronic hypertension and positive antinuclear antibody presented for prenatal care at 13 we...

In vitro embryo production has the potential to produce more offspring from genetically valuable animals than standard MOET as it is capable of avoiding most of the causes of failure in MOET (poor response to superovulation, poor fertilization and premature luteolysis). It also allows repeating collection in the donor animals more often and more times in their reproductive life. However, consis...

A single ovulation, reciprocal embryo transfer study was used to investigate effects of oocyte competence and maternal environment on pregnancy establishment and maintenance in beef cows. Estrous cycles were synchronized in suckled beef cows and embryo donors were inseminated on d 0 (n = 810). Cows were classifi ed on d 0 as having a small (<12.5 mm) or large (≥12.5 mm) ovulatory follicle and r...