Improved development of very-poor-quality human preembryos by coculture with human fallopian ampullary cells.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether a confluent culture of fallopian ampullary epithelial cells, taken from women at the end of their reproductive life, is capable of rescuing very-poor-quality preembryos from cleavage arrest and/or degeneration.


METHODS
Human preembryos. rejected for transfer or freezing because of very poor quality, and arrested within 24 h of cleavage, were cultured for 5 days in medium alone or over a confluent culture of fallopian ampullary epithelia] cells. Morphological criteria were utilized to assess preembryo degeneration and stage of development.


RESULTS
The described coculture rescued preembryos from degeneration, enhancing development to the blastocyst stage 2.2-fold, compared with cultures in medium alone. Furthermore, fully expanded and hatching blastocysts were observed only under coculture conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
Very-poor-quality human preembryos may be rescued from degeneration, and their growth and development dramatically improved, when cocultured with a confluent culture of fallopian ampullary epithelial cells.
Weichselbaum
Amnon
A
Faulkner Institute for Reproductive Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Paltieli
Yoav
Y
Philosoph
Ralph
R
Rivnay
Benjamin
B
Coleman
Raymond
R
Seibel
Machelle M
MM
Bar-Ami
Shalom
S
D002450:Cell Communication; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002970:Cleavage Stage, Ovum / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D005187:Fallopian Tubes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans