BACKGROUND Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) has been reported to improve pregnancy chances in women with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), and to reduce miscarriage rates by 50-80%. Such an effect is mathematically inconceivable without beneficial effects on embryo ploidy. This study, therefore, assesses effects of DHEA on embryo aneuploidy. METHODS In a 1:2, matched case control study 22 consec...

Carbon quantum dots (C-QDs) are becoming a desirable alternative to metal-based QDs and dye probes owing to their high biocompatibility, low toxicity, ease of preparation, and unique photophysical properties. Herein, we describe fluorescence bioimaging of zebrafish using C-QDs as probe in terms of the preparation of C-QDs, zebrafish husbandry, embryo harvesting, and introduction of C-QDs into e...

Biotechnology can offer useful tools to complement conventional breeding programs. The techniques of in vitro selection, that exploit phenomenon, called somaclonal variation, by screening cell cultures for resistance to herbicides, different types of stress or diseases, already helped to obtain tolerant lines of flax (Linum usitatissimum), which were used in further commercial breeding programs...

Blastocysts more commonly have a normal karyotype than cleavage-stage embryos do. Moreover, blastocysts have also made a metabolic transition from catabolism and recycling of the oocyte's reserves and resources, processes that fuel the first 3 days of cleavage. Although not all blastocysts are karyotypically equal, it is still to be determined to what extent a mosaic karyotype might be a normal...

The introduction of mechanism-based targeted therapies to treat human cancers is fruit of decades of research into the molecular basis of cancer pathogenesis. Despite the growing knowledge about the molecular mechanisms governing its causes and progression, there is a lack of effective treatments for many types of cancer. The expensive and time-consuming preclinical pipeline for testing molecul...

Coordination between cell-cycle progression and cytoskeletal dynamics is important for faithful transmission of genetic information. In early Drosophila embryos, increasing maternal cyclin B leads to higher Cdk1-CycB activity, shorter microtubules, and slower nuclear movement during cycles 5-7 and delays in nuclear migration to the cortex at cycle 10. Later during cycle 14 interphase of six cyc...

BACKGROUND Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) is increasingly utilized as an adjunct procedure to IVF. Recently healthy euploid live birth were reported following transfer of mosaic embryos. Several recent publications have surmised that the degree of trophectoderm (TE) mosaicism in transferred embryos is predictive of ongoing pregnancy and miscarriage rates. METHODS This is a corrected ...

If a couple knows or fears that they are at risk of having a child with a genetic condition or disease, they may seek in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Although success cannot be guaranteed, the purpose of PGD is to enable parents to have a child without a genetic impairment and, in so doing, to avoid moral or other difficulties in the terminat...

The zebrafish is a vertebrate model compatible with the paradigms of drug discovery. The small size and transparency of zebrafish embryos make them amenable for the automation necessary in high-throughput screenings. We have developed an automated high-throughput platform for in vivo chemical screenings on zebrafish embryos that includes automated methods for embryo dispensation, compound deliv...