title: Human blastocysts for the development of embryonic stem cells.
abstract: Establishment of human embryonic stem cells (hES) from surplus human IVF embryos has been successful when both fresh and frozen-thawed cleavage stage embryos have been cultured to the blastocyst stage. This study reports the characteristics of the starting material, the blastocysts, for hES cell lines that were first derived at the University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital in 1999. Twenty-two hES cell lines were derived by Cellartis AB from 114 blastocysts, giving an overall success rate of 19.3%. The blastocysts from which the hES cell lines were established were of varying morphological quality, both fresh and frozen-thawed. Two techniques of hES establishment were applied, i.e. direct application of the blastocysts on feeder cells or the standard immunosurgery method. It was further found that the efficiency by which frozen-thawed embryos gave rise to new hES cell lines was 3.7 times better than with fresh surplus embryos. These findings suggest that frozen-thawed embryos are superior to fresh surplus human embryos in hES cell establishment, which also avoids specific ethical problems associated with embryo donation in a fresh IVF cycle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sjögren
authors.forename: Thorir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hardarson
authors.forename: Katarina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Gunilla
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caisander
authors.forename: Monalill
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lundquist
authors.forename: Matts
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wikland
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Semb
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hamberger
mesh_terms: D001755:Blastocyst / Q000166:cytology*; D002460:Cell Line; D015925:Cryopreservation; D046149:Embryo Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*