Computer-Assisted Oocyte Morphometry Before ICSI: Correlation of Oocyte Measurements With Fertilization and Embryo Development

Abstract

The present study aimed to correlate morphometric parameters of the oocytes with the occurrence of fertilization following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In a prospective, controlled cohort design, women (n = 32) who were candidates for ICSI had oocytes (n = 258) collected and submitted to morphometric evaluation using the Cronus3 software program. The morphometric parameters obtained were oocyte diameter, perivitelline space width, zona pellucida thickness, and first polar body diameter. The median oocyte diameter was similar in cases in which fertilization occurred compared with those in which fertilization failed (75.2 and 75.9 μm, respectively; P = .218). The 2 groups also had similar measurements of perivitelline space, zona pellucida, and first polar body. However, the best quality zygotes identified by a morphological score resulted from oocytes with larger diameter (75.6 vs 74.0 μm; P < .01) and narrow perivitelline space (5.3 vs 7.1 μm; P < .01). Embryo development, as assessed by cleavage at second day of culture, was not significantly associated with oocyte morphometric parameters. These findings suggest that morphometric parameters of the oocytes do not correlate with the occurrence of fertilization following ICSI but may assist in selecting oocytes more likely to originate high-quality zygotes.

Pregnancy with oocytes characterized by narrow perivitelline space and heterogeneous zona pellucida: is intracytoplasmic sperm injection necessary?

“…Large PVS in the injected oocytes significantly affected fertilization rate and pronuclear morphology, but had no further effect on embryo quality [7]. A Computer-assisted oocyte morphometry evaluation showed that the best quality zygotes identified by a morphological score resulted from oocytes with larger diameter and narrow perivitelline space (5.3 vs 7.1 μm; P<0.01) [8], but it was different from the abnormal oocytes in our study. The extremely narrow PVS of the abnormal oocyte in our study was too narrow to be differentiated and calculated (Fig.…”

“…A majority (60 %-70 %) of the oocytes retrieved from stimulated cycles exhibit one or more abnormal morphologic characteristics [1]. Clinical studies showed that there was no relationship between the oocytes morphology and fertilization results, especially the extracytoplasmic anomalies [2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

Follicular GH and IGF1 Levels Are Associated With Oocyte Cohort Quality: A Pilot Study

“…In our study, we found that the fertilisation rate was significatively lower in the abnormal cohort group, as also demonstrated by Setti et al.’s meta-analysis ( 19 ) and discussed recently by Camargos et al. ( 20 ). As was also the case in Setti et al.’s meta-analysis, we did not observe a significant difference in markers of embryonic development.…”

Segmentation of mature human oocytes provides interpretable and improved blastocyst outcome predictions by a machine learning model

“…of the PVS and ZP) may have a comparatively modest impact on oocyte quality. Indeed, previous studies have demonstrated that PVS width and ZP thickness correlate to reproductive outcomes 32 – 34 . However, in our experiments, the removal of the ZP mask did not negatively impact performance of the classifier model.…”