P–170 The secretomy of embryo sex

Abstract

Study question Does the analysis of the metabolites of the embryonic culture medium can predict the sex of the embryo? Summary answer The presence and quantity of some metabolites in the culture medium can predict the sex of the human embryos. What is known already Advances in analytical techniques for metabolomics have brought the possibility of better tools for the characterization of molecules. Embryonic metabolism can be used as a good indicator of viability, regardless of the morphology of the blastocysts, since differences were observed in the metabolic activities between the days of embryo development and in the rates of live births. Study design, size, duration 16 patients had their embryos biopsied between the months of January to July 2019 in a human reproduction laboratory. All cases had PGT-A indication and after the biopsy, the embryos were frozen. The culture medium samples were individually prepared for metabolites extraction according to the Bligh and Dyer protocol. Controlled ovarian stimulation and dose adjustments according to the response of each patient. The metabolomics analysis was performed by mass spectrometry. Participants/materials, setting, methods Follicular puncture were performed 35 hours after r-hCG. The eggs were kept in individual culture until the blastocyst stage. The blastocysts biopsy was performed (20). After the culture medium was sent to the 337 metabolites analysis by mass spectrometry. 14 molecules with the highest score on the PLS-Da was submitted to the ROC curves showing the power of metabolic analysis to predict the sex of euploid embryos. Besides, we performed the functional enrichment analysis. Main results and the role of chance After the genetic analysis by PGT-a, we obtain 20 euploid embryos, being 12 female embryos and 08 male embryos. Comparing the quantitative target metabolomic analysis of the 337 metabolites in the embryo culture medium, we observed the Asymmetric dimethylarginine, FAD, Malic Acid, Serotonin, increased in female embryos and Adenosine monophosphate, L-Alanine, L-Arginine, Cysteamine, DL-Dopa, Flavin Mononucleotide, Methionine sulfone, Nicotinic acid, L-Tyrosine, Uracil in male embryos. Through the ROC curve, we can verify AUC = 0.937. This result suggests that the metabolomic analysis of the culture medium is valid to be used as a complement of PGT-A to know embryo sex diagnostic. The functional enrichment analysis shows the Asymmetric dimethylarginine and Malic Sulfone metabolism as the principal function alter by female embryos. Limitations, reasons for caution Small number of samples Wider implications of the findings: Further studies are needed to validate these findings for the diagnostic of sex embryos Trial registration number N/A