Embryonic early-cleavage rate is decreased with aging in GnRH agonist but not inantagonist protocols

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between embryonic early-cleavage status and the age of patients receiving either a GnRH agonist long protocol or a GnRH antagonist protocol. Methods This retrospective study included 534 patients undergoing a fresh cycle of oocyte retrieval and day-3 embryo transfer. Of the 534 patients treated, 331 received a GnRH agonist long stimulation protocol (GnRH agonist group) for ovarian stimulation and 203 patients received a GnRH antagonist protocol (GnRH antagonist group).Results By logistic regression analysis, the rate of embryonic early-cleavage was significantly decreased with increasing age of women in the agonist (P<0.001) but not in antagonist groups (P=0.61). Based on the results of this study, maternal age is a critical factor for embryonic early-cleavage in agonist protocol but not in antagonist protocol. The results also showed that early-cleavage embryos were of better quality and resulted in a higher pregnancy rate than late-cleavage embryos in the GnRH agonist group. However, embryo quality and pregnancy rate was not significantly different between early and late cleavage embryos in the GnRH antagonist group. Conclusions We conclude that embryonic early-cleavage status is negatively correlated with aging in women receiving GnRH agonist long down-regulation but not in GnRH antagonist protocols. We also conclude that early cleavage of the zygote is not a reliable predictor for pregnancy potential using the GnRH antagonist protocol.

The Vienna consensus: report of an expert meeting on the development of art laboratory performance indicators†‡

“…In addition, premature occurrence of early cleavage can be negatively, instead of positively, associated with embryo implantation potential (Meseguer et al , 2011). Furthermore, it was not a reliable predictor for embryo implantation rate when good quality embryos are transferred (Sundstrom and Saldeen, 2008; de los Santos et al , 2014), or when using a GnRH antagonist protocol (Yang et al , 2015). In the Alpha survey, competence and benchmark values ranged from 10 to 50% and 15 to 60%, respectively.…”

Antioxidant hesperetin improves the quality of porcine oocytes during aging in vitro

“…Developmental rate determines the efficiency with which embryos are produced in vitro. Aging negatively affects oocyte competency and embryo development (Marshall & Rivera, ), and reduces the cleavage rate (W. J. Yang et al, ). The percentage of oocytes that became cleavage was similar in the control and H‐100 groups, and was lower in the aging group than in the control group.…”

The Vienna consensus: report of an expert meeting on the development of ART laboratory performance indicators

“…In addition, premature occurrence of early cleavage can be negatively, instead of positively, associated with embryo implantation potential (Meseguer et al, 2011). Furthermore, it was not a reliable predictor for embryo implantation rate when good quality embryos are transferred (de los Santos et al, 2014;Sundstrom and Saldeen, 2008), or when using a GnRH antagonist protocol (Yang et al, 2015). In the Alpha survey, competence and benchmark values ranged from 10-50% and 15-60%, respectively.…”