Comparison of embryo development between intracytoplasmic and piezo-assisted sperm injection after treating mouse sperms by Ca[2+] ionophore

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of intracytoplasmic sperm injection [ICSI] and Piezo-assisted sperm injection after pretreatment with calcium ionophore [CaI] on the mouse embryo development. In this study, the conventional ICSI and Piezo-ICSI procedures were used. The efficacy of the methods was examined after mouse matured oocytes were fertilized with or without CaItreated sperms. Piezo-ICSI demonstrated significantly more favorable results, with a fertilization rate of 64% [conventional ICSI 42%, P<0.001] and a cleavage rate of 73% [conventional ICSI 58%, P<0.05]. When the Piezo-ICSI procedure was performed with CaI-pretreated sperms, the cleavage rate significantly increased [92% vs. 73%, P<0.05]. However, the fertilization rate did not change significantly [64% vs. 56%]. The Piezo-ICSI accompanies with CaI-treated sperms is more efficient than the conventional ICSI method for fertilizing and thus obtaining more mouse embryos