Cytoplasmic Transfer Improves Human Egg Fertilization and Embryo Quality: an Evaluation of Sibling Oocytes in Women with Low Oocyte Quality.

The aim of this study was to evaluate if cytoplasmic transfer can improve fertilization and embryo quality of women with oocytes of low quality. During ICSI, 10-15% of the cytoplasm from a fresh or frozen young donor oocyte was added to the recipient oocyte. According to the embryo quality, we defined group A as patients in which the best embryo was evident after cytoplasmic transfer and group B as patients in which the best embryo was evident after a simple ICSI. We investigated in the period of 2002-2018, 125 in vitro fertilization cycles involving 1011 fertilized oocytes. Five hundred fifty-seven sibling oocytes were fertilized using ICSI only and 454 oocytes with cytoplasmic transfer. Fertilization rates of oocytes were 67.2% in the cytoplasmic transfer and 53.5% in the ICSI groups (P < 0.001). A reduction in fertilization rate was observed with increased women age in the ICSI but not in the cytoplasmic transfer groups. The best embryo quality was found after cytoplasmic transfer in 78 cycles (62.4%) and without cytoplasmic transfer in 40 cycles (32%, P < 0.001). No significant differences were detected between the age, hormonal levels, dose of stimulation drugs, number of transferred embryos, pregnancy rate and abortion rate between A and B groups. Cytoplasmic transfer improves fertilization rates and early embryo development in humans with low oocyte quality. All 28 children resulting from cytoplasmic transfer are healthy.

High incidence of monozygotic twinning in infertility treatment.

BACKGROUND: Monozygotic twinning is associated with increased perinatal morbidity and mortality. There is evidence that the number of monozygotic twins increases after assisted reproductive techniques. METHODS: We searched PUBMED, MEDLINE, and Scopus from 1987 to 2015 for studies analyzing the incidence and possible etiology of monozygotic twinning in infertility patients and critically reviewed the current state of knowledge. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Monozygotic twinning is a rare in natural conception but occurs around twice the normal rate after assisted reproduction. Factors associated with this phenomenon remain speculative, though there is some evidence that micromanipulation techniques, prolonged culture, and genetics are involved. In view of the possible complications, adequate pre-conception counselling is advocated.

High incidence of monozygotic twinning after assisted reproduction is related to genetic information, but not to assisted reproduction technology itself.

OBJECTIVE: To study the incidence of monozygotic twinning (MZT) in patients using in vitro fertilization, relative to their age, genetic background, ovarian function, and assisted reproductive techniques used. DESIGN: Analysis of a collected database. SETTING: Infertility treatment center. PATIENT(S): A total of 1,876 patients receiving infertility treatment between 2000 and 2012. Pregnancies with monozygotic twins (A: 23) were compared with deliveries of dizygotic twins (B: 423), singleton pregnancies (C: 880), and aborted pregnancies (D: 389). INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): A genetic survey on multiple pregnancies in the extended family. Measures were micromanipulation technique, the length of embryo cultivation, type of cultivation media, basal follicle-stimulating hormone level, estradiol level on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin administration, number of oocytes, total consumption of gonadotropins, and consumption of gonadotropins needed for recovery of 1 oocyte. RESULT(S): No differences were found between the incidence of MZT in cycles that did vs. did not use micromanipulation techniques. In addition, the length of embryo cultivation or type of cultivation media used did not affect the results. Estradiol levels and implantation rates were significantly higher in group A. The incidence of MZT in families in group A was significantly higher than that in groups B and C. CONCLUSION(S): We propose that the high incidence of MZT in infertility-clinic patients is conditioned by hereditary factors, and good ovarian function only facilitates the expression. The resulting recommendation is that young women with a positive family history and good ovarian function undergo elective single-embryo transfer, and proper counseling is advisable.

Ultrasonographically guided transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy.

Transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy was introduced as an outpatient procedure to examine the tubo-ovarian complex in infertile women. We evaluated ultrasonographically guided transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy (UTHL) as a modified technique for pelvic examination in 562 infertile women without overt evidence of pelvic pathology. Access to the abdominal cavity was observed by ultrasound and examination of the pelvic structures was done by hydrolaparoscopy using saline solution. Access was successful in all cases. No perforation of bowel or rectum was detected. Bilateral visualization of the tubo-ovarian complex was successful in 96% of women. Mild asymptomatic peri-ovarian adhesions were detected in 17% of the women, 4.9% had grade I endometriosis. There was unilateral tubal occlusion in 5%, and bilateral in 3.6%. In 13.9% elective operative laparoscopy for tubal obstruction and/or adhesions was recommended. UTHL is a safe outpatient procedure for examination of the tubo-ovarian complex. The use of ultrasound increases the rate of successful access to the pouch of Douglas and minimizes complications.

TSPY gene copy number as a potential new risk factor for male infertility.

The human TSPY (testis-specific protein, Y-linked) gene family (30-60 copies) is situated in the MSY (male-specific) region of the Y chromosome. Testis-specific expression indicates that the gene plays a role in spermatogenesis. Refined quantitative fluorescence PCR (polymerase chain reaction) was applied to evaluate the relative number of TSPY copies compared with AMELY/X (amelogenin gene, Y-linked) genes in 84 stratified infertile men and in 40 controls. A significantly higher number of TSPY copies was found in infertile men compared with the controls (P = 0.002). The diagnostic discrimination potential of the relative number of TSPY copies was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. TSPY/AMELY was unambiguously found to be powerful in the diagnostic separation of both the control samples and the infertile men, reaching a good level of specificity (0.642) and sensitivity (0.732) at a cut-off point of 0.46. The findings were supported by independently repeated studies of randomly selected positive samples and controls. Evaluation of the TSPY copy number offers a completely new diagnostic approach in relation to the genetic cause of male infertility. The possible effect of the copy number of TSPY genes on spermatogenesis may explain indiscrete pathological alterations of spermatid quality and quantity.