Looking For Something? Search Our Site Here!
Objective:
Proper culture media is the cornerstone of a good IVF lab as these provide nutrients for proper embryo development. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been shown to negatively impact embryo growth, and supplementing media with antioxidants may combat the effects of ROS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of culture media with antioxidants on fertilization and blastocyst development.
Design:
Retrospective analysis.
Materials and Methods:
A total of 728 patients undergoing IVF with either conventional insemination or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were included in the study. Embryos from patients from January- April 2023 were cultured in Irvine Scientific CSC-NX media and those from August-December 2023 were cultured in Vitrolife GX media. Fertilization rate and good quality blastocyst rates were compared between the two media. Statistical analyses were performed using an N-1 Chi-squared test.
Results:
No significant differences were noted in the fertilization rate between the two media for both conventional insemination and ICSI. However, the overall blastocyst rates were significantly improved in the Gx media compared to the CSC-NX media in both conventional insemination (38.3% vs 27.8%, p<0.0004) and ICSI (40.6% vs 31.4%, p<0.0001) (Table 1).
Table 1. Fertilization and blastocyst development rates of embryos culture in CSC-NX versus GX media following ICSI.
| ICSI | Conventional Insemination | |||||||||||
| CSC-NX media | Gx media | CSC-NX media | Gx media | |||||||||
| Age group | n | Fert % | Blast % | n | Fert % | Blast % | n | Fert % | Blast % | n | Fert % | Blast % |
| <35 | 101 | 75.5 | 36.3 | 119 | 78.2 | 47.7 | 17 | 70.4 | 33.5 | 13 | 69.3 | 39.3 |
| 35-37 | 81 | 74.7 | 33.3 | 75 | 75.3 | 38.9 | 10 | 47.7 | 20.5 | 15 | 69.8 | 43.2 |
| 38-40 | 63 | 75.3 | 25.3 | 70 | 75.8 | 36.4 | 7 | 75.0 | 20.6 | 4 | 71.9 | 26.8 |
| 41-42 | 29 | 78.1 | 21.4 | 43 | 77.1 | 23.9 | 2 | 75.0 | 18.5 | 4 | 62.2 | 8.7 |
| >42 | 17 | 72.6 | 7.8 | 26 | 68.0 | 28.8 | 2 | 28.3 | 0.0 | 3 | 39.6 | 15.8 |
| Donor | 7 | 86.2 | 28.6 | 14 | 73.4 | 42.7 | 4 | 68.8 | 30.7 | 2 | 57.6 | 57.9 |
| Total | 298 | 75.7 | 31.4a | 347 | 76.4 | 40.6a | 42 | 63.9 | 27.8b | 41 | 66.9 | 38.3b |
aP<0.0001; bP<0.0004
Conclusions:
Gx media with antioxidants has a beneficial effect on blastocyst development that can be applied for both conventional insemination as well as ICSI across all patient age groups. Each laboratory should perform its own quality control to determine the best culture system to provide the best embryo quality.
Disclosures:
None
Funding:
None