Promotion of human blastocyst formation by red cell hemolysate.
Recently, blastocyst transfer has been increasingly performed to improve the implantation rate achieved by in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. This has created the need for new culture methods to improve in vitro blastulation. Culture with erythrocyte hemolysate promotes the development of early mouse embryos due to an antioxidant effect. The present study investigated whether erythrocyte hemolysate could also promote blastulation of human embryos. Eighty surplus embryos were obtained from 15 patients who gave informed consent. These embryos were cultured for 2 to 7 days after oocyte retrieval in medium with or without erythrocyte hemolysate. Blastocyst formation was observed in 53% and 28% of the embryos grown in hemolysate-supplemented and control cultures, respectively. The blastulation rate was significantly higher in hemolysate-supplemented culture than in control group (p = 0.02). These results suggest that culture medium supplemented with erythrocyte hemolysate may promote the blastulation of human embryos.
Musoh
Ayako
A
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Osaka City University Medical School, Osaka, Japan. musohal@nifty.com
Yamamasu
Seiichi
S
Tokuyama
Osamu
O
Nakamura
Yoshihiro
Y
Musoh
Hiroshi
H
Fujino
Yuji
Y
Ishiko
Osamu
O
Ogita
Sachio
S
D000328:Adult; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology*; D003470:Culture Media; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006461:Hemolysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques
D003470:Culture Media