the cytokine of granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (gm-csf) is a glycoprotein, which is synthesized in the female reproductive tract and has embryonic trophic effect in mammals. the objective of this study was to examine the optimal dosage of gm-csf to improve the mouse embryo development in vitro. to collect two and eight cells embryos, the pregnant nmri mice were sacrificed by c...

Using the data from the Kyoto Collection of Human Embryos, three main topics related to normal and abnormal developrnent of human embryos are discussed. 1) Wide variability was noted in developmental stage of human embryos at any given gestational age. This was true not only for the estimated ovulation age but also for `coital' age in single coital cases. Such diversity in human prenatal develo...

In 1991, the United Kingdom established the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) as a response to technologies that used human embryos. The HFEA is a regulatory power of the Health and Social Services Department in London, UK, that oversees the implementation of reproductive technologies and the use of embryos in research within the United Kingdom. It establishes protocols by whi...

We developed several novel tools to genome wide screen for CNVs and SNPs in single cells. When applied to cleavage stage embryos from young fertile couples we discovered, unexpectedly, an extremely high incidence of chromosomal instability, a hallmark of tumorigenesis (Vanneste et al., Nature Medicine, 2009; Vanneste et al., Hum.Reprod., 2011). Not only mosaicisms for whole chromosome aneuploid...

background: effect of seasonal changes in human reproduction has been intensively researched. some studies acknowledge influences of seasonal variation on natural conception, while others can not confirm them. the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of seasonal changes on different stages of assisted reproductive technology (art) in tehran. materials and methods: this study was carr...

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (HFE Bill) allows the creation of four different types of human-animal hybrid embryos. This page deals with the issues raised by cloned human-animal hybrid embryos (also known as cytoplasmic hybrids), which are the main focus of debate about hybrid embryos in the HFE Bill. In our view, although important, the issues raised by GM embryos, which are one...

Background: Development of cloned bovine embryos. Materials and Methods: Oocytes collection,oocyte denudation, oocyte enucleation, nuclear transfer, electrofusion, reconstructed embryo activation, culture of reconstructed and IVF embryo,and treatment with SAH post fusion interval Treatment of reconstructed embryos with TSA for 12 hours after activation, preparation of somatic donor cells, donor...

The quality of embryos produced by in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is variable. Many embryos contain unequal sized blastomeres and multiple cellular fragments. Embryos with excessive fragmentation have limited developmental potential both in vitro and in vivo. Histologically, some blastomeres of fragmented embryos resemble cells undergoing apoptosis as a result of programmed cell death (PCD). The ...

Previous studies have demonstrated that aneuploidy in human embryos is surprisingly frequent with 50-80% of cleavage-stage human embryos carrying an abnormal chromosome number. Here we combine non-invasive time-lapse imaging with karyotypic reconstruction of all blastomeres in four-cell human embryos to address the hypothesis that blastomere behaviour may reflect ploidy during the first two cle...