Background: Embryo vitrification is a key instrument in assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). However, thereis increasing concern that vitrification adversely affects embryo development. This study intends to assess the effectof vitrification on developmental competence, in addition to expressions of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) gene traplocus 2 (Gtl2) and its reciprocal ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate and compare the laboratory and clinical outcomes of vitrification with slow-freezing method for cryopreservation of embryos and blastocysts in an in-vitro fertilisation programme. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of all the 104 cycles of frozen embryo and blastocyst replacements from 2003 to 2008 and all the 149 cycles with embryos or blastocysts for vitrification from 2006...

Background: Currently, ARTs are of indispensable importance in treatment of human infertility. While ARTs are considered to be safe, some studies suggest that ARTs manipulations may perturb the epigenetic information and subsequently the health of the offspring. To examine these events further, this study was conducted to assess the effect of superovulation, in vitro culture and vitrification o...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to analyse the outcome of closed blastocyst vitrification of embryos biopsied at the cleavage stage. METHODS Vitrification of supernumerary blastocysts was performed using the closed CBS-VIT High Security straws. Warming cycles (n = 100) for patients with preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and/or aneuploidy screening in the fresh cycle were analysed. ...

OBJECTIVE It is well known that fresh blastocyst transfer results in better pregnancy outcomes with a smaller number of transferred embryos compared with cleavage stage embryo transfer. However, in terms of frozen-thawed blastocyst transfer, only a few studies are available. We aimed to evaluate clinical outcomes of frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) with blastocysts. METHODS Retrospective a...

BACKGROUND The high frequency of chromosomal abnormalities observed in human gametes and embryos is unlike that seen in other mammalian species and is of great clinical significance, leading to high rates of pregnancy loss, and live-born children with aneuploid syndromes. Although much is known concerning the aneuploidy rates of oocytes, cleavage stage embryos and fetuses during pregnancy, the ...

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a combination of cytoplasmic lipid removal (delipation) and treatment by a microtubule stabilizer, paclitaxel, would lead to efficient cryopreservation of porcine in vitro matured (IVM) oocytes at the meiosis II (MII) stage. Vitrification and subsequent re-warming and culture of 109 untreated oocytes produced only 9 blastocysts (8.3%). On ...

the key role of chemokine receptor cxcr4 in the maintenance of stemness property of stem cells has been shown recently. the low level laser irradiation (llli) is being used currently in a wide variety of clinical cases as a therapeutic tool for wound healing, relieving pain and destroying tumor cells. the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of llli mimicking low level laser therapy (ll...

By using a rapid and sensitive method for determination of total protein and free amino acid contents we have shown that mouse preimplantation embryos developing in vivo and in vitro contain decreasing amounts of protein until the late blastocyst stage. Free amino acid contents in embryos developing in vivo drop following fertilization and then rise gradually until the late blastocyst stage. Em...

Co-culture of human embryos (n = 384 cycles) to the blastocyst stage using Vero cell monolayers was carried out between August 1995 and December 1997. A total of 2868 zygotes were co-cultured and 1027 embryos reached the blastocyst stage (blastocyst formation rate 35.8%). The blastocysts were frozen in 43.7% of patients. A mean of 1.8 blastocysts was transferred per patient and 95 pregnancies w...