Morphology of inner cell mass: a better predictive biomarker of blastocyst viability

Abstract

Background Transfer of embryos at the blastocyst stage is one of the best approaches for achieving a higher success rate in In vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment as it demonstrates an improved uterine and embryonic synchrony at implantation. Despite novel biochemical and genetic markers proposed for the prediction of embryo viability in recent years, the conventional morphological grading of blastocysts remains the classical way of selection in routine practice. This study aims to investigate the association between the morphological features of blastocysts and pregnancy outcomes. Methods This prospective study included women undergoing single or double frozen blastocyst transfers following their autologous cycles in a period between October 2020 and September 2021. The morphological grades (A—good, B—average, and C—poor) of inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) of blastocysts with known implantation were compared to assess their predictive potential of pregnancy outcome. It was further explored by measuring the relationship between the two variables using logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results A total of 1,972 women underwent frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles with a total of 3,786 blastocysts. Known implantation data (KID) from 2,060 blastocysts of 1,153 patients were subjected to statistical analysis, the rest were excluded. Implantation rates (IR) from transfer of ICM/TE grades AA, AB, BA, BB were observed as 48.5%, 39.4%, 23.4% and 25% respectively. There was a significantly higher IR observed in blastocysts with ICM grade A (p < 0.001) than those with B irrespective of their TE scores. The analysis of the interaction between the two characteristics confirmed the superiority of ICM over TE as a predictor of the outcome. The rank biserial correlation value for ICM was also greater compared to that of TE (0.11 vs 0.05). Conclusion This study confirms that the morphology of ICM of the blastocyst is a stronger predictor of implantation and clinical pregnancy than that of TE and can be utilized as a biomarker of viability.

THC and sperm: Impact on fertilization capability, pre-implantation in vitro development and epigenetic modifications

“…Given that blastocysts generated from sperm exposed to all concentrations of THC had fewer ICM cells, and that ICM quality is highly predictive of pregnancy and implantation rates [ 137 ], paternal cannabis use would be expected to adversely affect IVF outcomes. However, current clinical research shows no associations between paternal cannabis use and implantation rates or time to pregnancy [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Advancing bovine in vitro fertilization through 3D printing: the effect of the 3D printed materials

“…Altogether, these data suggest that the materials printed with stereolithography (PEGDAs) are less biocompatible than extrusion-printed materials (PLA and PCL). On the other hand, the TCN, the ICM/TE ratio and the ACR are three important parameters of embryo quality and in recent years, several studies have shown that the rate of ICM/TE is a strong predictor of live birth ( Ai et al, 2021 ; Sivanantham et al, 2022 ). When we analyzed all these parameters, the principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the embryos produced in presence of PLA and PCL scaffolds are the most comparable to the control group.…”

Fibronectin measurement as a potential molecular marker for barrier function assessment of piglet intestine

“…Both model experiments and field trials of possible antibiotic alternatives in different livestock production systems are considered necessary to address these challenges (Callaway et al, 2021). Such research should be effective if it is based on the study of fundamental indicators, namely, molecular markers of central pathways for cellular functions control and whole organism viability support (Sivanantham et al, 2022).…”