傳統培養箱  vs  time lapse培養

懷孕率無差異

. 2018 Feb;109(2):302-309.e1.

 doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2017.10.008. Epub 2017 Nov 23.

Randomized controlled trial comparing embryo culture in two incubator systems: G185 K-System versus EmbryoScope

Objective: To study whether the closed culture system, as compared with a benchtop incubator with similar culture conditions, has a positive impact on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes.

Patient(s): A total of 386 patients undergoing ICSI cycles with at least six mature oocytes were randomized.

Intervention(s): Of these patients, 195 were assigned to the group with culture in a time-lapse imaging (TLI) system (EmbryoScope) and 191 to the group with culture in the G185 K-System (G185).

Main outcome measure(s): Rate of implantation (primary endpoint) and embryo morphology grade.

Result(s): No significant differences were found in the implantation rates. The proportion of high-grade embryos on day 2 was significantly higher in the TLI group compared with the G185 group (40.4% vs. 35.2%). The impact of the incubator on embryo morphology remained significant in multivariate analysis, which took into account the woman's age, the rank of attempt, and the smoking status (TLI vs. G185: odds ratio = 1.27; 95% confidence interval, [1.04-1.55]). No difference was found in the mean number of frozen embryos, even though the total proportion of frozen embryos was significantly higher in the TLI group than in the G185 group (29.5% vs. 24.8%).

Conclusion(s): No difference in implantation rate was found between the two incubators for fresh cycles. It remains to be determined whether the observed differences in embryo morphology and the total number of embryos cryopreserved would translate into higher cumulative outcomes with subsequent frozen embryo transfers.

 time-lapse(不取出觀察) vs傳統培養箱(定期取出觀察)

胚胎DNA甲基化程度並無差異(DNA甲基化程度越高代表外界干擾程度越大)

結論: 

胚胎有一定抵抗外界環境變動之能力  短暫取出觀察溫度環境變動對胚胎影響並不太大

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. 2023 Jan;40(1):113-123.

 doi: 10.1007/s10815-022-02669-9. Epub 2022 Dec 2.

Comparison of DNA methylation profiles of human embryos cultured in either uninterrupted or interrupted incubators

Purpose: We aimed to compare the DNA methylation profiles of human embryos cultured in uninterrupted or interrupted incubators.

Methods: This study included 9 women, ≤ 30 years old (range: 20-30 years), without a history of genetic diseases or smoking, undergoing ICSI treatment, and each woman donated one oocyte. Embryos were randomly assigned to culture in either time-lapse imaging or standard incubators after ICSI. We compared the DNA methylation profiles of human eight-cell embryos cultured in uninterrupted condition using time-lapse imaging (TLI) incubator (EmbryoScope) to those cultured in interrupted culture model using standard incubators (SI, G185 K-System). Nine single-cell whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) datasets were analyzed, including four SI-cultured embryos and five TLI-cultured embryos at the eight-cell stage.

Results: A total of 581,140,020 and 732,348,182 clean reads were generated from the TLI and SI groups, respectively. TLI-cultured embryos had similar genome-wide methylation patterns to SI-cultured embryos. There were no significant differences in the methylation and transcription levels of transposable elements and imprinted control regions. Although a total of 198 differentially methylated genes (DMGs) were identified, only five DMGs had significantly different transcription levels between the two groups.

Conclusions: This is the first study to compare the DNA methylation profiles of embryos cultured in TLI and SI and will provide a foundation for evaluating the safety of TLI application in assisted reproductive technologies. However, further study with a larger cohort of samples was needed for the data validation.

PGS是否提高懷孕率仍具爭議  

本篇指出年輕ㄉIVF施行PGS並無明顯提升累積懷孕率(甚至有下降疑慮)

. 2023 Jan;40(1):137-149.

 doi: 10.1007/s10815-022-02667-x. Epub 2022 Dec 1.

PGT-A is associated with reduced cumulative live birth rate in first reported IVF stimulation cycles age ≤ 40: an analysis of 133,494 autologous cycles reported to SART CORS

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) on cumulative live birth rate (CLBR) in IVF cycles.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of the SART CORS database, comparing CLBR for patients using autologous oocytes, with or without PGT-A. The first reported autologous ovarian stimulation cycle per patient between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2015, and all linked embryo transfer cycles between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2016, were included in the study. Exclusion criteria were donor oocyte cycles, donor embryo cycles, gestational carrier cycles, cycles which included both a fresh embryo transfer (ET) combined with a thawed embryo previously frozen (ET plus FET), or cycles with a fresh ET after PGT-A.

Results: A total of 133,494 autologous IVF cycles were analyzed. Amongst patients who had blastocysts available for either ET or PGT-A, including those without transferrable embryos, decreased CLBR was noted in the PGT-A group at all ages, except ages > 40 (p < 0.01). A subgroup analysis of only those patients who had PGT-A and a subsequent FET, excluding those without transferrable embryos, demonstrated a very high CLBR, ranging from 71.2% at age < 35 to 50.2% at age > 42. Rates of multiple gestations, preterm birth, early pregnancy loss, and low birth weight were all greater in the non-PGT-A group.

Conclusions: PGT-A was associated with decreased CLBR amongst all patients who had blastocysts available for ET or PGT-A, except those aged > 40. The negative association of PGT-A use and CLBR per cycle start was especially pronounced at age < 35.