title: A preliminary trial of human zygote culture in Ham's F-10 without hypoxanthine.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study deals with the suitability of Ham's F-10 without hypoxanthine for early cleavage-stage embryo culture. A high percentage of mouse two-cell embryos developed into morula and blastocysts in Ham's F-10 formulated without hypoxanthine (75.3 and 71.6%, respectively); in contrast, in agreement with previous reports, only 15.4% developed beyond the two-cell stage in Ham's F-10 with hypoxanthine. To begin to evaluate the effect of hypoxanthine on human embryos, a total of 318 human oocytes was fertilized and cultured in Ham's F-10 minus hypoxanthine.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The fertilization, cleavage, and pregnancy percentages in two ovulation induction protocols [human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG)/human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and gonadotropin releasing hormone/hMG/hCG] were 82, 88, and 20 and 83, 91, and 30%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that, in agreement with mouse embryo development, hypoxanthine does not appear to be necessary for human embryo cleavage and its omission from Ham's F-10 may enhance the conditions for culture of early-cleaving human embryos. These observations may lead to a better understanding of critical cell processes during early human embryonic development.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Athens Medical School, Alexandra Maternity Hospital, Greece.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Loutradis
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Kiessling
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kallianidis
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Siskos
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Creatsas
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Michalas
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aravantinos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000166:cytology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003470:Culture Media; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D019271:Hypoxanthine; D007042:Hypoxanthines; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D011786:Quality Control; D015053:Zygote / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D007042:Hypoxanthines; D019271:Hypoxanthine