Thermal and clinical performance of a closed device designed for human oocyte vitrification based on the optimization of the warming rate.
Although it was qualitatively pointed out by Fahy et al. (1984), the key role of the warming rates in non-equillibrium vitrification has only recently been quantitatively established for murine oocytes by Mazur and Seki (2011). In this work we study the performance of a closed vitrification device designed under the new paradigm, for the vitrification of human oocytes. The vitrification carrier consists of a main straw in which a specifically designed capillary is mounted and where the oocytes are loaded by aspiration. It can be hermetically sealed before immersion in liquid nitrogen for vitrification, and it is warmed in a sterile water bath at 37 °C. Measured warming rates achieved with this design were of 600.000 ºC/min for a standard DMEM solution and 200.000 ºC/min with the vitrification solution for human oocytes. A cohort of 143 donor MII sibling human oocytes was split into two groups: control (fresh) and vitrified with SafeSpeed device. Similar results were found in both groups: survival (97.1%), fertilization after ICSI (74.7% in control vs. 77.3% in vitrified) and good quality embryos at day three (54.3% in control vs. 58.1% in vitrified) were settled as performance indicators. The pregnancy rate was 3/6 (50%) for the control, 2/3 (66%) for vitrified and 4/5 (80%) for mixed transfers.
University of Seville, C/ Camino de los Descubrimientos s/n, 41092, Seville, Spain; Ginemed Clínicas, C/ Farmacéutico Murillo Herrera nº 3-5, 41010, Seville, Spain.
Miguel
M
Gallardo
Ginemed Clínicas, C/ Farmacéutico Murillo Herrera nº 3-5, 41010, Seville, Spain.
María
M
Hebles
Ginemed Clínicas, C/ Farmacéutico Murillo Herrera nº 3-5, 41010, Seville, Spain.
Beatriz
B
Migueles
Ginemed Clínicas, C/ Farmacéutico Murillo Herrera nº 3-5, 41010, Seville, Spain.
Mónica
M
Dorado
Ginemed Clínicas, C/ Farmacéutico Murillo Herrera nº 3-5, 41010, Seville, Spain.
Laura
L
Aguilera
Ginemed Clínicas, C/ Farmacéutico Murillo Herrera nº 3-5, 41010, Seville, Spain.
Mercedes
M
González
Ginemed Clínicas, C/ Farmacéutico Murillo Herrera nº 3-5, 41010, Seville, Spain.
Paloma
P
Piqueras
Ginemed Clínicas, C/ Farmacéutico Murillo Herrera nº 3-5, 41010, Seville, Spain.
Lorena
L
Montero
Ginemed Clínicas, C/ Farmacéutico Murillo Herrera nº 3-5, 41010, Seville, Spain.
Pascual
P
Sánchez-Martín
Ginemed Clínicas, C/ Farmacéutico Murillo Herrera nº 3-5, 41010, Seville, Spain.
Fernando
F
Sánchez-Martín
University of Seville, C/ Camino de los Descubrimientos s/n, 41092, Seville, Spain; National Accelerator Centre, C/ Thomas Alva Edison 7, 41092, Seville, Spain. Electronic address: risco@us.es.
Ramón
R
Risco
D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009865:Oocytes; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D058989:Vitrification
Aseptic; Closed system; Donor oocytes; Human; Vitrification; Warming rate