Analysis of clinical outcomes with respect to spermatozoan origin after artificial oocyte activation with a calcium ionophore.

PURPOSE: Fertilization failures have occurred repeatedly in reproductive centers after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and artificial oocyte activation (AOA) has been used to prevent it. This study was performed to investigate whether spermatozoan origin influences clinical outcomes of AOA with a calcium ionophore. METHODS: A total of 185 ICSI cycles with a history of no or low fertilization was included in this retrospective study. The outcomes of AOA after ICSI were compared with ejaculated-normal, ejaculated-oligo-astheno-terato or extracted-testicular spermatozoa. RESULTS: There were significant differences between the previous standard ICSI cycles and AOA cycles in the rate of fertilization and clinical outcomes among cases with different sperm origins. Thirty-eight healthy babies (20 singles and 18 twins, 29 cycles) were successfully delivered, and no congenital birth defects were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Most patients with a no or low fertilization history obtained an increased fertilization rate and a positive clinical outcome with AOA regardless of the origin of spermatozoa.

Proteomic analysis of parthenogenetic and in vitro fertilized porcine embryos.

Proteomic data from embryos are essential for the completion of whole proteome catalog due to embryo-specific expression of certain proteins. In this study, using reverse phase LC-MS/MS combined with 1-D SDS-PAGE, we identified 1625 mammalian and 735 Sus scrofa proteins from porcine zygotes that included both cytosolic and membranous proteins. We also found that the global protein profiles of parthenogenetically activated (PA) and in vitro fertilized (IVF) zygotes were similar but differences in expression of individual proteins were also evident. These differences were not due to culture conditions, polyspermy or non-activation of oocytes, as the same culture method was used in both groups, the frequency of polyspermy was 24.3+/-3.0% and the rates of oocyte activation did not differ (p>0.05) between PA and IVF embryos. Consistent with proteomic data, fluorescent Hoechst 33 342 staining and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay also revealed that PA embryos were of poor quality as they contained less cells per blastocyst and were more predisposed to apoptosis (p<0.05), although their in vitro development rates were similar. To our knowledge, this is the first report on global peptide sequencing and quantification of protein in PA and IVF embryos by LC-MS/MS that may be useful as a reference map for future studies.

Evaluation of human embryo development in in vitro fertilization- and intracytoplasmic sperm injection-fertilized oocytes: A time-lapse study.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether the insemination method (in vitro fertilization [IVF] or intracytoplasmic sperm injection [ICSI]) affected morphokinetic events and abnormal cleavage events in embryonic development. METHODS: A total of 1,830 normal fertilized embryos were obtained from 272 IVF and ICSI cycles that underwent ovum retrieval culture using a time-lapse system (Embryoscope) from June 2013 to March 2015. All embryos were investigated by a detailed time-lapse analysis that measured the developmental events in the hours after IVF or ICSI insemination. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed between the two groups regarding clinical outcomes (p>0.05). ICSI-derived embryos showed significantly faster morphokinetics than those derived from conventional IVF, from the time to pronuclear fading to the time to 6 cells (p<0.05). However, no significant differences were found from the time to 7 cells to the time to expanded blastocyst (p>0.05). There were no differences in abnormal cleavage events between the two groups (p>0.05); they showed the same rates of direct cleavage from 1 to 3 cells, 2 multinucleated cells, 2 uneven cells, and reverse cleavage. CONCLUSION: The morphokinetics of embryo development was found to vary between IVF- and ICSI-fertilized oocytes, at least until the 6-cell stage. However, these differences did not affect the clinical outcomes of the embryo. Additionally, no significant differences in abnormal cleavage events were found according to the fertilization method.

The impact of weight changes on nonalcoholic Fatty liver disease in adult men with normal weight.

BACKGROUND: Although it is known that losing weight has an effect on the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the studies that show how losing weight affects the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease for the normal weight male adults are limited so far. In this study, we set body mass index as criteria and investigated how the weight changes for 4 years makes an impact on the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease for the male adults who have the normal body mass index. METHODS: From January to December of 2004, among the normal weight male adults who had general check-up at the Health Promotion Center of Ulsan University Hospital, 180 people (average age, 47.4 ± 4.61 years) who were diagnosed with fatty liver through abdominal ultrasonography were included in this study and were observed according to the variety of data and ultrasonography after 4 years (2008). People who had a history of drinking more than 140 g of alcohol per week or who had a past medical history were excluded from the analysis. The weight change of subjects was calculated using the formula 'weight change = weight of 2008 (kg) - weight of 2004 (kg)' and classified into three groups, loss group (≤-3.0 kg), stable group (-2.9 to 2.9 kg), and gain group (≥3.0 kg). The odds for disappearance of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in those three different groups were compared. RESULTS: Among 180 subjects, compared with stable group (67.2%, 121 subjects), loss group (11.7%, 21 subjects) showed 18.37-fold increase in the odds of disappearance of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.34 to 77.80) and gain group (21.1%, 38 subjects) showed 0.28-fold decrease in the odds of disappearance of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (95% CI, 0.10 to 0.83). CONCLUSION: Even for the normal weight people, losing weight has an effect on the improvement of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Comparison between intracytoplasmic sperm injection and intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection in oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia patients.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection (IMSI) technique compared with conventional ICSI and previous ICSI attempts in oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia (OAT) patients. METHODS: The sperms were selected under high magnification (6,600×) and used to induce fertilization in previous ICSI patients by IMSI. These results were compared with previous conventional ICSI cycles in patients with OAT infertility. RESULTS: These results demonstrated no significant difference in the fertilization rate between IMSI and previous ICSI cycles (67.7% vs. 65.0%). However, the pregnancy and implantation rates with IMSI were significantly higher than those of the ICSI cycles (33.3% vs. 12.5% and 14.6% vs. 5.4%, respectively; p<0.05). The miscarriage rate among pregnant patients (18.2% vs. 37.5%) showed no statistically significant difference between groups. CONCLUSION: Compared to conventional ICSI, this study found that IMSI increased the IVF-ET success rates in patients with OAT.