Retrospective Review of Reproductive Outcomes Comparing Vaginal Progesterone to Intramuscular Progesterone as Luteal Support in Frozen Embryo Transfer Cycles.

OBJECTIVE: Recent literature suggests that progesterone in oil (PIO) is superior to vaginal progesterone (VP; Prometrium) for endometrial preparation in frozen embryo transfer cycles (FET), improving the live birth rate and reducing the rate of miscarriage. PIO has disadvantages including cost, pain, and stress of administration. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether VP is non-inferior to PIO for medicated FET cycles. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis comparing pregnancy, miscarriage, and live birth rates for PIO versus VP for medicated FET cycles, from 2017 to 2020 at a single fertility clinic. A total of 745 participants were included in the study; 438 received VP, and 307 received PIO. Univariate and multivariate binary and ordinal logistic regression analyses were performed to compare the rates of pregnancy, miscarriage, and live birth between VP and PIO. RESULTS: Our data demonstrated no difference between PIO and VP with respect to the rates of pregnancy (51% vs. 53%), miscarriage (20% vs. 18%), or live birth (31% vs. 34%) (all P > 0.05). For participants taking PIO, the odds of pregnancy were 0.93 [95% CI (0.70, 1.25), P = 0.65] that of participants on VP. CONCLUSION: In our single-centre experience, VP was non-inferior to PIO for endometrial preparation in FET cycles.

Complex reciprocal translocations, more complex than initially thought: a case report.

OBJECTIVE: To present a case of a couple who experienced spontaneous abortion after the transfer of a preimplantation genetic testing for structural rearrangement (PGT-SR) normal/balanced embryo. The embryo was later determined to have significant paternally inherited chromosome deletion that was not previously identified as part of a complex translocation. DESIGN: Case report. SETTING: Single infertility practice. PATIENTS: A 35-year-old patient with a history of five spontaneous abortions and her 36-years-old partner, a carrier of a balanced reciprocal translocation. INTERVENTIONS: In vitro fertilization with PGT-SR and follow-up genetic testing. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Identification of a paternal reciprocal translocation, pregnancy outcome after PGT-SR, and follow-up genetic testing after the spontaneous abortion of a PGT-SR normal/balanced embryo. RESULTS: Karyotyping for a couple with a history of recurrent pregnancy loss identified a paternal reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 5 and 17 after G-banding analysis. In vitro fertilization with PGT-SR resulted in one normal/balanced embryo. The couple experienced a 9-week spontaneous abortion of the transfer of the embryo. Testing of product of conception identified a 3.2-Mb deletion on chromosome 17 resulting in the loss of 55 known genes and deemed likely pathogenic. Repeat karyotyping using G-banding and metaphase fluorescence in situ hybridization identified an additional chromosomal translocation, a segment of chromosome 17 translocated to chromosome 6, the same segment of deoxyribonucleic acid absent from the fetus. CONCLUSIONS: Preimplantation genetic testing for structural rearrangement cases are complex. Genetic testing must be completed with the best available technology by a reliable testing center. We, therefore, recommend that all chromosomal translocations detected by G-banding be further investigated with metaphase fluorescence in situ hybridization. When unexpected results occur in this patient population, testing beyond the standard of care may be required, including advanced molecular testing.

Morphological diversity in the orbital bones of two teleosts with experimental and natural variation in eye size.

BACKGROUND: Understanding differences in tissue morphology has not been well researched, yet provides crucial insight into evolution. We investigate the effect of eye reduction on the shape of surrounding bones by examining two morphs of the Mexican tetra (Tinaja cavefish and sighted fish), F1 intermediates, zebrafish, a sighted tetra after lens removal and a zebrafish mutant, bum-/- , which has a degenerating lens. RESULTS: Significantly, by comparing the skulls, we show that there are broadly similar effects on bone shape after eye reduction with bones posterior and dorsal to the eye consistently most affected in both species. We conclude that there are conserved mechanisms underlying bone shape changes in response to a reduced or lost eye. Of interest, when we compare the shapes of individual bones and the mode of eye reduction, differences suggest that the finer details of these underlying mechanisms may indeed vary. We also show that cavefish occupy a unique morphospace with respect to skull morphology and that F1 intermediates are most similar to sighted fish than their cavefish parent. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the dynamic nature of the vertebrate skull and its ability to respond to tissue changes within the head, a topic which has been largely overlooked in the literature. Developmental Dynamics 244:1109-1120, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Adaptive evolution of the lower jaw dentition in Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus).

BACKGROUND: The Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus) has emerged as a good animal model to study the constructive and regressive changes associated with living in cave environments, as both the ancestral sighted morph and the cave dwelling morph are extant. The cave dwelling morphs lack eyes and body pigmentation, but have well developed oral and sensory systems that are essential for survival in dark environments. The cave forms and surface forms are interfertile and give rise to F1 hybrids progeny known as intermediates. In cavefish, degeneration of the lens is one of the key events leading to eye regression. We have previously shown that surgical lens removal in surface fish embryos has an effect on the craniofacial skeleton. Surprisingly, lens removal was also found to have an effect on the caudal teeth in the lower jaw. In order to understand this result, we analyzed the lower jaw and upper jaw dentitions of surface, cavefish and F1 hybrids of surface and cavefish and compared our findings with surface fish that underwent lens removal. We also investigated the upper jaw (premaxillae and maxillae) dentition in these fish. RESULTS: Our tooth analyses shows that cavefish have the highest numbers of teeth in the mandible and maxillae, surface forms have the lowest numbers and F1 hybrids are between these groups. These differences are not observed in the premaxillae. A wide diversity of cuspal morphology can also be found in these fish. Jaw size also differs amongst the groups, with the mandible exhibiting the greatest differences. Interestingly, tooth number in surgery fish is different only in the caudal region of the mandible; this is the region that is constrained in size in all morphs. CONCLUSION: Our data provides the first detailed description of the jaw dentitions of two morphs of Astyanax mexicanus, as well as in F1 hybrids. Tooth number, patterning and cuspal morphology are enhanced in cavefish in all jaws. This is in contrast to the increase in tooth number previously observed on the lens ablated side of the surgery fish. These findings indicate that the mechanisms which govern the constructive traits in cavefish are different to the mechanisms causing an increase tooth number in surgery fish.

Early lens ablation causes dramatic long-term effects on the shape of bones in the craniofacial skeleton of Astyanax mexicanus.

The Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, exists as two morphs of a single species, a sighted surface morph and a blind cavefish. In addition to eye regression, cavefish have an increased number of taste buds, maxillary teeth and have an altered craniofacial skeleton compared to the sighted morph. We investigated the effect the lens has on the development of the surrounding skeleton, by ablating the lens at different time points during ontogeny. This unique long-term study sheds light on how early embryonic manipulations on the eye can affect the shape of the adult skull more than a year later, and the developmental window during which time these effects occur. The effects of lens ablation were analyzed by whole-mount bone staining, immunohistochemisty and landmark based morphometric analyzes. Our results indicate that lens ablation has the greatest impact on the skeleton when it is ablated at one day post fertilisation (dpf) compared to at four dpf. Morphometric analyzes indicate that there is a statistically significant difference in the shape of the supraorbital bone and suborbital bones four through six. These bones expand into the eye orbit exhibiting plasticity in their shape. Interestingly, the number of caudal teeth on the lower jaw is also affected by lens ablation. In contrast, the shape of the calvariae, the length of the mandible, and the number of mandibular taste buds are unaltered by lens removal. We demonstrate the plasticity of some craniofacial elements and the stability of others in the skull. Furthermore, this study highlights interactions present between sensory systems during early development and sheds light on the cavefish phenotype.