Due to the low effectiveness of traditional assisted reproductive technology (ART), new technological possibilities are constantly explored. Lots of studies have demonstrated the potential of microfluidics to revolutionize the fundamental processes of in vitro fertilization (IVF). With the advantages of high efficiency, short time, harmless collection, real-time observation of separation, similar microenvironment, and automation, the application of microfluidics in sperm isolation and IVF has shown an evident superiority over the conventional approaches and provided a new platform for ART. This review highlights the application of various microfluidic techniques in sperm motility assessment and isolation, sperm chemotaxis assay, IVF, sperm concentration, and sperm separation and enrichment in recent years. It also briefly introduces the basic principles, structural design, and operation processes of the microfluidic platform, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of each method and the potential of their clinical application. Obviously, there are still some challenges to the application of microfluidics in ART. However, it is believed that the development of this new technology would be toward a highly integrated application of several steps in one single device, known as IVF-lab-on-a-chip.
Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Male ; Microfluidics ; methods ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Sperm Motility ; Spermatozoa

OBJECTIVETo explore the feasibility, indication and method of oocyte vitrification during the IVF - ET procedure, so as to increase the utilization of oocytes and reduce oocyte waste.

METHODSThis study included the patients whose husbands failed to provide sperm samples at the time of oocyte pickup or from whom more than 25 oocytes were obtained. With the patients' consent, some of their oocytes were subjected to cryopreservation by vitrification, and used for IVF - ET after thawed.

RESULTSTotally, 53 oocytes from 7 patients were thawed, and 44 (83.02%) survived, of which 41 M II oocytes were subjected to ICSI and 32 (72.73%) were fertilized. Thirty embryos were formed, with a cleavage rate of 93.75%. Sixteen embryos were transferred in 9 cycles, with achievement of 2 clinical pregnancies and delivery of 3 healthy babies. The implantation rate was 18.75% and the live birth rate 22.22%. Seven of the embryos were still cryopreserved.

CONCLUSIONCryopreservation of oocytes by vitrification effects satisfactory rates of survival and fertilization, and that of surplus oocytes can increase oocyte utilization and adds to the alternatives for IVF - ET.

Adult ; Cryopreservation ; methods ; Embryo Transfer ; methods ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Humans ; Oocytes ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate ; Vitrification

BACKGROUNDOocyte vitrification is widely used throughout the world, but its clinical efficacy is inconsistent and depends on the vitrification media. This study compared the developmental potential and clinical results of in vivo matured oocytes cryopreserved with different vitrification media.

METHODSThis retrospective study involved vitrified-warmed oocytes at one in vitro fertilization laboratory. Vitrification media kits comprised the MC kit (ethylene glycol [EG] plus 1,2-propanediol [PROH]), the KT kit (EG plus dimethyl sulphoxide [DMSO]), and the Modified kit (EG plus DMSO and PROH kit). Rates of oocyte survival and subsequent developmental potential were recorded and analyzed. The t-test and the Chi-square test were used to evaluate each method's efficacy.

RESULTSOocyte survival rate was significantly higher for the Modified kit (92.0%) than for the MC kit (88.2%) (P < 0.05) and the KT kit (77.3%) (P < 0.001). The rate of high-quality embryo development in the Modified kit group (35.8%) was significantly higher than in the MC kit group (29.0%) and the KT kit group (28.3%) (P < 0.001). No significant differences were observed in the clinical pregnancy and implantation rates among the MC, KT, and Modified kit groups (37.2% vs. 30.2% vs. 39.6%; 21.9% vs. 18.8% vs. 27.4%, respectively) (P > 0.05). The high-quality embryo rate per warmed oocyte was significantly higher (23.4%) in the Modified kit group than in the other groups (P < 0.001). The embryo utilization and live birth rates per warmed oocyte were the highest in the Modified kit group, but not significantly (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSModified vitrification media are efficient for oocyte vitrification and, with further verification, may be able to replace commercially available media in future clinical applications.

Adult ; Cryopreservation ; methods ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Humans ; In Vitro Oocyte Maturation Techniques ; methods ; Oocytes ; cytology ; Pregnancy ; Retrospective Studies ; Vitrification

OBJECTIVETo explore effective pretreated methods for hydrosalpinx before frozen embryo transfer (FET).

METHODSA randomized controlled study was performed on 229 FET cycles of hydrosalpinx patients. They were assigned to two groups by random digit table, Group A (94 cases), Group B (89 cases), and Group C (46 cases). Patients in Group A received transvaginal aspiration of hydrosalpinx combined with auricular point sticking. Those in Group B received transvaginal aspiration of hydrosalpinx group. Those in Group C received no transvaginal aspiration of hydrosalpinx. Pregnancy outcomes of FET, endometrial and subendometrial blood flow distribution on the embryo transfer day were compared among the three groups.

RESULTSThere was no statistical difference in the endometrial thickness on FET day, the number of transfer embryos, the number of transferred good quality embryos among the three groups (P > 0.05). The clinical pregnancy rate and the embryo implantation rate were significantly higher in Group A than in Group C (P < 0.05), and the clinical pregnancy rate was significantly higher in Group A than in Group B (P < 0.05). The early abortion rate and the transfer cycle cancel rate were significantly lower in Group A than in Group C (P < 0.05). Type A endometrial and subendometrial blood flow distribution was dominant in Group A, which was significantly higher in Group A than the rest two groups (P < 0.05). Type A distribution rate was also significantly higher in Group B than in Group C (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONTransvaginal aspiration of hydrosalpinx combined with auricular point sticking before FET could improve the endometrial receptivity and improve outcomes of IVF.

Embryo Implantation ; Embryo Transfer ; methods ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Pregnancy Rate

OBJECTIVETo determine an optimal insemination technique for patients suspected of high risk of fertilization failure and undergoing assisted reproduction treatment.

METHODSNinety-nine couples were treated by conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in one cycle (half-ICSI) by dividing the sibling oocytes in halves. The clinical and laboratory data were analyzed, and the rates of fertilization, cleavage, good embryos and clinical pregnancy were compared between different fertilization methods.

RESULTSIn the half-ICSI group, the fertilization rate of ICSI (80.5%) was significantly higher than that of IVF (42.9%) (P < 0.01), and so were the rates of complete fertilization failure (21.2%) and low fertilization (16.2%) of IVF than those of ICSI (0 and 3.0%). No significant differences were observed in the rates of cleavage and good-quality embryos between the two groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONICSI can help to avoid complete fertilization failure, achieve more high quality embryos for transfer and improve the rate of pregnancy for patients with high risk of fertilization failure.

Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Oocytes ; cytology ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; methods

BACKGROUNDCryopreserved embryo transfer has become indispensable in reproductive technology. More and more children are conceived from frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET). The risk of birth defects associated with frozen-thawed embryo transfer has been evaluated and conflict results are obtained. The aim of this study was to compare the rate of major malformations in children conceived from cryopreserved embryos with that of children from fresh embryos.

METHODSA retrospective analysis was performed on children conceived from frozen-thawed embryos and fresh embryos between January 2005 and December 2008 at the Reproduction Center of the Third Hospital, Peking University. The major malformation rates were compared between two groups for all children, as well as singletons or twins, separately. The frequencies of different subtypes of malformations classified according to different organ system were also compared.

RESULTSThirty-four of 3125 children from cryopreserved embryos had a major malformation. The malformation rate was 1.09%, which was comparable to that for children after fresh embryos transfer (1.53% (55/3604), OR: 0.71, 95%CI; 0.46-1.09). The malformation rate was also similar when the analysis was limited to children from cryopreserved embryos resulted from in vitro fertilization (IVF) (1.39%) and fresh IVF (1.3%). However, children from cryopreserved embryos resulted from intracytoplasmic sperm injections (ICSI) had much lower malformation rate than from fresh ICSI (0.63% vs.1.83%, OR: 0.34, 95%CI: 0.16-0.75). No difference was found in the incidence of major malformations in singletons from cryo ICSI (0.73%) and fresh ICSI (1.9%), or from cryo IVF (1.49%) and fresh IVF (1.67%). Similar malformation rate was found in multiples from cryo ICSI (0.52%) and fresh ICSI (1.76%), or cryo IVF (1.30%) and fresh IVF (0.90%). The distribution and risk of the subtype of malformations, such as cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, neural tube, urogenital, musculoskeletal and facial abnormalities was not different between the cryo group and fresh group.

CONCLUSIONSThe major malformation rate is similar between fetuses/children conceived from cryopreserved embryos and those from fresh embryos. Large prospective and long-term follow-up studies are needed to get exact results concerning the birth defects of the children born after cryopreserved embryos.

Cryopreservation ; Embryo Transfer ; methods ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Retrospective Studies

Sperm selection plays an important role in assisted reproductive technology. In recent years, sperm evaluation is not limited to the assessment of sperm motility and morphology, but involves more other sperm characteristics such as sperm ultrastructure, DNA integrity, apoptosis and membrane. Assessment based on these characteristics is becoming the aim of sperm selection. This article gives an overview on several newly developed techniques for sperm selection according to different technical principles, such as electrophoretic separation, zeta potential, HA binding, Annexin V binding, intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection (IMSI) and microfluidic sperm sorter, which have all been applied to IVF or ICSI with the exception of microfluidic sperm sorter. It also introduces the advantages, disadvantages and application effects of these techniques.
Cell Separation ; Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Humans ; Male ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Semen Analysis ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; methods

Total or near-total fertilization failure after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a rare event, but it occurs repeatedly because of sperm defects in activating oocyte. The case presents a successful pregnancy and live birth after calcium ionophore A23187 (A23187) activation on one-day-old unfertilized oocytes in a patient whose husband suffered oligoasthenoteratozoospermia, and who had experienced repeated near-total fertilization failure after ICSI. In the second ICSI cycle, only one oocyte was fertilized while nine were unfertilized. Oocyte activation with A23187 were performed on the one-day-old unfertilized oocytes after ICSI and resulted in fertilization and embryo transfer. A clinical pregnancy was achieved and a healthy baby was born. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a healthy birth after oocyte activation on the one-day-old unfertilized oocyte. This indicates that "rescue oocyte activation" on one-day-old unfertilized oocytes after ICSI may be helpful for preventing total or near-total fertilization failure after ICSI.
Adult ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Humans ; Live Birth ; Male ; Oocytes ; cytology ; Pregnancy ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; methods

Cytoplasmic transfer between human oocytes, which represents a complete cytoplasmic exchange, has been performed recently as a means to improve the outcome of assisted reproduction and becomes a hotspot of researches. Many studies have indicated that mitochondria in the oocytoplasm obviously affect fertilization of the oocytes and early embryo development. However, ooplasmic transfer can lead to mitochondrial DNA heteroplasmy and the prospect of mitochondrial heteroplasmy and its potential problems necessitate further studies. The authors reviews the ooplasmic transfer, the relation between ooplasm and fertilization and embryo development, and the mitochondrial heteroplasmy. The authors also propose a new theory of "reverse cloning technique".
Cytoplasm ; transplantation ; Embryonic Development ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Humans ; Oocyte Donation ; methods ; Oocytes ; cytology ; growth & development

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) refers to a procedure to genetically analyze embryos prior to implantation, in order to prevent the occurrence of specific inherited disorders before conception and improve the outcome of high-risk pregnancy with genetic disorders. In recent years, with the advance of molecular biology techniques, more and more genetic diseases have been elucidated, and PGD has been gradually expanding its scope and applications. New technologies, such as microarray comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH), are developed to improve the accuracy of diagnosis. However, the safety of this procedure has aroused great attention. In this article, authors will review the safety of zona opening procedures, different biopsy procedures at different stages, and removal of one or two cells from cleavage-stage embryos. The reliability of genetic analysis technologies will be discussed as well.
Embryo Implantation ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; methods ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Preimplantation Diagnosis ; adverse effects ; methods ; Reproducibility of Results ; Safety