Are zona pellucida laser drilling and polar body biopsy safe for in vitro matured oocytes?

Abstract

Introduction Preconception diagnosis requires first polar body biopsy. When the hole in the zona pellucida is made with a laser beam, heat propagation could, like the biopsy itself, be deleterious. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of this technique on human in vitro matured oocyte and embryo development. Methods One hunded fifty five retrieved immature oocytes from 75 women, matured in vitro, were distributed in 3 groups: 50 oocytes in a control group, without laser drilling and first polar body biopsy, 52 oocytes in a group with only laser drilling, and 53 oocytes in a group with both laser drilling and first polar body biopsy. Safety was evaluated using four criteria: [1] oocyte lysis rate, [2] oocyte activation rate, [3] oocyte development after calcium ionophore treatment, [4] and embryo chromosome breakage incidence after Tarkowski preparation. Results No difference in the four criteria was observed between the 3 oocyte groups.Conclusions We did not find evidence of deleterious effect of laser drilling and first polar body biopsy on in vitro matured oocytes, according to our criteria.

Follicular fluid protein content (FSH, LH, PG4, E2 and AMH) and polar body aneuploidy

“…These factors limit the benefit provided by this technique in terms of an increased likelihood of pregnancy. Although the safety issue must also be considered, the literature data [9,38] and our own results are reassuring in this respect [20]. In the present study, we obtained 15 pregnancies from 71 attempts with fresh embryo transfer, i.e.…”

The Impact of Biopsy on Human Embryo Developmental Potential during Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis

“…The methods for zona drilling are the same as previously described for blastomere biopsy. Several papers in the literature described their application for PBs biopsy and reported no negative effects upon quality parameters, such as oocytes lysis and activation rates, development after calcium ionophore treatment, embryo chromosome breakage incidence after Tarkowski preparation, and/or embryo development [ 44 – 47 ]. Neonatal outcomes after PB biopsy-based PGD are also comparable to those obtained with cleavage stage-based approach [ 13 ].…”

Effects of laser polar-body biopsy on embryo quality

“…Montag et al (10) found similar results when comparing laser and standard zona drilling. Hammoud et al (17) were able to test the effects of laser drilling per se, without PBB, on in vitro-matured oocytes and also found no detrimental effect of the technique.…”