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Effect of A23187 ionophore treatment on human blastocyst development—a sibling oocyte study

  • Embryo Biology
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate whether treatment with commercially available ready-to-use A23187 ionophore (GM508-CultActive) improves embryo development outcome in patients with a history of embryo developmental problems.

Methods

This is a uni-center prospective study in which sibling oocytes of patients with embryos of poor quality on day 5 in the previous cycle were treated or not with CultActive.

Results

Two hundred forty-seven metaphase II (MII) oocytes from 19 cycles performed between 2016 and 2019 were included in the study. After ICSI, the sibling oocytes were assigned to the treatment group or to the control group, following an electronically generated randomization list. A number of 122 MII were treated with CultActive and 125 MII had no treatment and were assigned to the control group. No difference in fertilization rate (p = 0.255) or in the capacity of embryos to reach good quality on day 5 (p = 0.197) was observed between the two groups. The utilization rates defined as the number of embryos transferred or cryopreserved per mature oocyte (p = 0.438) or per fertilized oocytes (p = 0.299) were not significantly different between the treated group and the control group.

Conclusion

The results of the current study do not support the use of CultActive in cases with embryo developmental problems.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the clinical embryologists, medical doctors, and laboratory technologists of the Brussels IVF center from Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZBrussel).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZBrussel), Brussels IVF, Laarbeeklaan 101, 1090, Brussels, Belgium

    Ileana Mateizel, Ingrid Segers, Koen Wouters, Shari Mackens & Greta Verheyen

  2. Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidade de Lisboa (IVI Lisboa), Lisboa, Portugal

    Samuel Santos-Ribeiro

Authors
  1. Ileana Mateizel
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  2. Samuel Santos-Ribeiro
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  3. Ingrid Segers
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Correspondence to Ileana Mateizel.

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Mateizel, I., Santos-Ribeiro, S., Segers, I. et al. Effect of A23187 ionophore treatment on human blastocyst development—a sibling oocyte study. J Assist Reprod Genet 39, 1225–1232 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-022-02467-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-022-02467-3

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