Pronuclear, cleavage and blastocyst histories in the attempted preimplantation diagnosis of the human hydatidiform mole.
We report a study of fertilization, syngamy and embryonic development in 14 oocytes from a woman with four previous pregnancies involving complete hydatidiform moles. Serial observations of pronuclear movements and syngamy were compared to those in a group of 10 multipronucleate embryos from other patients. One embryo and possibly two others developed normally or near-normally. The others displayed immediate cleavage or had one or three pronuclei. The tripronucleate eggs displayed various anomalous forms of growth. The unipronucleate eggs passed through a double form of syngamy, which might have involved chromosome doubling, and could have developed as androgenetic diploids. We suggest a hypothesis to explain these unusual observations.
Edwards
R G
RG
Bourn Hall, Cambridge, UK.
Crow
J
J
Dale
S
S
Macnamee
M C
MC
Hartshorne
G M
GM
Brinsden
P
P
D000328:Adult; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D002970:Cleavage Stage, Ovum / Q000502:physiology*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000648:ultrastructure; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D006828:Hydatidiform Mole / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009865:Oocytes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010062:Ovulation Induction / Q000379:methods; D011247:Pregnancy; D012016:Reference Values; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*