title: The effects of serum from women with miscarriages on the in vitro development of mouse preimplantation embryos.
abstract: It is generally believed that some human miscarriages result from embryotoxic factors existing in the sera. To study the embryotoxicity of such sera, 3.5-day-old mouse blastocysts were cultured for 72 h on 80% sera from different groups of women. After 72 h there was no blastocystic development in 53.2% of the cases grown on sera from women after two or more miscarriages, and none in 33.6% of the blastocysts grown on sera from women after one miscarriage, as compared with 8.2% and 12% respectively on control sera. Sera from women with miscarriages were divided into 'high risk' (50% or more embryotoxicity) and 'low risk' (less than 50% embryotoxicity) sera. The 'high risk' sera from two or more miscarriages caused an average of 72.1% undevelopment, while the 'low risk' sera (less than 50% embryotoxicity) from the same group caused 33.6% undevelopment. The 'high risk' sera from one miscarriage were embryotoxic to 55.8% of the blastocysts and the 'low risk' sera from the same group caused only 8.7% undevelopment. No significant differences were found in the mean serum concentrations of folic acid, zinc and copper of many of the experimental groups, in comparison with controls. The embryotoxic factor/s which exist in the 'high risk' sera from women with miscarriages are still not known.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Hebrew University, Haddasah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abir
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zusman
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ben Hur
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yaffe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ornoy
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000097:blood*; D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000187:drug effects*; D003300:Copper / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice / Q000196:embryology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D011247:Pregnancy; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D003300:Copper; D005492:Folic Acid; D015032:Zinc