Could cleaved embryo morphology and morphokinetics be associated with prenatal and neonatal outcomes?

Purpose: To evaluate if morphology and morphokinetics of cleaved embryos affect prenatal and perinatal outcomes.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 734 single fresh embryo transfer (SET) from ICSI from January 2014 to December 2020 at the Dijon University Hospital. Using time-lapse technology, embryos were defined as TOP or non-TOP according to morphological/morphokinetic criteria.

Chromosomal abnormalities in oocyte donor candidates: a French survey of over 8,200 karyotypes.

Objective: To study karyotypes of >8,200 oocyte donor candidates in nulliparous or multiparous women compared with a reference population.

Design: A retrospective observational multicentric study.

Setting: University Hospital Centers.

Assessing the influence of distinct culture media on human pre-implantation development using single-embryo transcriptomics.

The use of assisted reproductive technologies is consistently rising across the world. However, making an informed choice on which embryo culture medium should be preferred to ensure satisfactory pregnancy rates and the health of future children critically lacks scientific background. In particular, embryos within their first days of development are highly sensitive to their micro-environment, and it is unknown how their transcriptome adapts to different embryo culture compositions.

Comparison of oocyte vitrification using a semi-automated or a manual closed system in human siblings: survival and transcriptomic analyses.

Background: Indications of oocyte vitrification increased substantially over the last decades for clinical and ethical reasons. A semi-automated vitrification system was recently developed making each act of vitrification reproducible. In this study, we evaluated the efficiency of the semi-automated technique of oocyte vitrification by survival rate, morphometric assessment and resistance to empty micro-injection gesture as compared with a manual method.

Effect of paternal smoking on pre-implantation embryonic development: a prospective cohort study.

Context: Recent studies have failed to demonstrate the negative impact of male tobacco smoking on embryo development, raising the question of its actual implication on natural fecundity and assisted reproductive techniques outcomes.

Aims: To assess the impact of paternal smoking on embryo development.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, 252 men from couples undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) were included.

DNA methylation profiles after ART during human lifespan: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The many manipulations and processes used in ART coincide with the timing of epigenetic reprogramming and imprinting during female gametogenesis and pre-implantation embryo development, leading to concerns that the actual ART could negatively affect epigenetic reprogramming and imprinting in gametes and early embryos. A growing body of literature suggests that ART may affect epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, in the fetus and placenta. Potentially, this may be responsible later in life for the increased risk of adverse outcomes associated with ART.

Genome-Wide Analysis of DNA Methylation in Buccal Cells of Children Conceived through IVF and ICSI.

Early life periconceptional exposures during assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures could alter the DNA methylation profiles of ART children, notably in imprinted genes and repetitive elements. At the genome scale, DNA methylation differences have been reported in ART conceptions at birth, but it is still unclear if those differences remain at childhood. Here, we performed an epigenome-wide DNA methylation association study using Illumina InfiniumEPIC BeadChip to assess the effects of the mode of conception on the methylome of buccal cells from 7- to 8-year-old children (48 children conceived after ART or naturally (control, CTL)) and according to the embryo culture medium in which they were conceived.

Relevant Biological Effects of Varicocele Embolization with N-Butyl Cyanoacrylate Glue on Semen Parameters in Infertile Men.

Surgical treatment or varicocele embolization (VE) with sclerosing or mechanical embolic agents have been shown to improve the semen parameters of infertile men. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of VE using N-butyl cyanoacrylate (NBCA) glue on semen parameters in infertile men. From January 2014 to June 2018, infertile adult patients with stage 3 varicocele and an initial semen analysis showing at least one abnormal semen parameter, and who were successfully embolized with NBCA Glubran2 glue, were retrospectively recruited.

Do frozen embryo transfers modify the epigenetic control of imprinted genes and transposable elements in newborns compared with fresh embryo transfers and natural conceptions?

Objective: To determine whether the epigenetic control of imprinted genes (IGs) and transposable elements (TEs) differs at birth between fresh or frozen embryo transfers and natural conceptions.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: University hospital.

Do assisted reproductive technologies and in vitro embryo culture influence the epigenetic control of imprinted genes and transposable elements in children?

Study Question: Do assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and in vitro embryo culture influence the epigenetic control of imprinted genes (IGs) and transposable elements (TEs) in children?

Summary Answer: Significant differences in the DNA methylation of IGs or transposon families were reported between ART and naturally conceived children, but there was no difference between culture media.

What Is Known Already: There is concern that ART may play a role in increasing the incidence of adverse health outcomes in children, probably through epigenetic mechanisms. It is crucial to assess epigenetic control, especially following non-optimal in vitro culture conditions and to compare epigenetic analyses from ART-conceived and naturally conceived children.

Can novel early non-invasive biomarkers of embryo quality be identified with time-lapse imaging to predict live birth?

Study Question: Can time-lapse imaging systems make it possible to identify novel early non-invasive biomarkers to predict live birth?

Summary Answer: From mostly high-grade embryos, out of 35 morphometric, morphologic and morphokinetic variables, only pronuclei (PN) position at time of PN juxtaposition and the absence of multinucleated blastomeres at the 2-cell stage (MNB2cell), were potentially associated with live birth.

What Is Known Already: Previous studies indicate that some kinetic markers may be predictive of blastocyst development and embryonic implantation. Certain teams have suggested including some of them in decisional algorithms for embryo transfers.

Effects of assisted reproductive technologies on transposon regulation in the mouse pre-implanted embryo.

Study Question: Do assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) impact on the expression of transposable elements (TEs) in preimplantation embryos?

Summary Answer: The expression of all TE families is globally increased with mouse embryo culture with differences according to culture medium composition.

What Is Known Already: Mammalian genomes are subject to global epigenetic reprogramming during early embryogenesis. Whether ARTs could have consequences on this period of acute epigenetic sensitivity is the matter of intense research.

Placental volume and other first-trimester outcomes: are there differences between fresh embryo transfer, frozen-thawed embryo transfer and natural conception?

Research Question: Does mode of conception influence placental volume and other first-trimester outcomes?

Design: This retrospective single-centre case-control study led in Dijon University Hospital included 252 singleton pregnancies (84 IVF with either fresh embryo transfer or frozen-thawed embryo transfer [FET] and 168 natural conceptions). First-trimester placental volume, uterine artery pulsatility index and maternal serum PAPP-A and beta-HCG were measured. Statistical analyses were adjusted for gestational age, the newborn's gender, maternal age, parity, body mass index and smoking status.

Singleton fetal growth kinetics depend on the mode of conception.

Objective: To study the impact of in vitro fertilization, with or without intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI), frozen-embryo transfer (FET), and intrauterine insemination (IUI) on fetal growth kinetics throughout pregnancy and to compare the different modes of conception.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: University.

Sperm imprinting integrity in seminoma patients?

Background: Testicular germ cell tumor such as seminoma is strongly associated with male reproductive problems commonly associated with the alteration of sperm parameters as described in testicular dysgenesis syndrome. Interestingly, numerous studies have reported that the precursor of germ cell cancer, germ cell neoplasia in situ (GCNIS), present similarities to fetal gonocytes, specifically characterized by global DNA hypomethylation particularly on imprinting sequences. These disorders may have a common origin derived from perturbations of embryonal programming during fetal development.

[Immunosuppressive therapy and fertility preservation: Indications and methods].

Fertility preservation is routinely performed in cancerology but less systematically used in the field of immune diseases, even though the use of gonadotoxic treatments in young patients may be required and even though the disease itself can alter fertility. This review aimed to clarify the indications and methods of fertility preservation in this context. Cyclophosphamide is the only immunosuppressive drug requiring fertility preservation in women.

The epigenetic control of transposable elements and imprinted genes in newborns is affected by the mode of conception: ART versus spontaneous conception without underlying infertility.

Study Question: Do assisted reproductive technologies alter DNA methylation and/or transcription of transposable elements and imprinted genes in cord blood and placenta?

Summary Answer: After ART, DNA methylation and/or transcription changes of some transposable elements and imprinted genes were found in placenta samples while transcription modifications for some transposable elements were also discovered in cord blood.

What Is Known Already: Recent studies have confirmed the increased risk of placenta-related adverse pregnancy outcomes and the excess of imprinted disorders with abnormal methylation patterns after ART, which raises the issue of a potential ART-induced epigenetic risk.

Study Design, Size, Duration: A total of 51 IVF/ICSI (15 conventional and 36 ICSI) singleton pregnancies were prospectively included from January 2013 to April 2015 and compared to 48 spontaneously conceived singleton pregnancies.

Randomized controlled trial comparing embryo culture in two incubator systems: G185 K-System versus EmbryoScope.

Objective: To study whether the closed culture system, as compared with a benchtop incubator with similar culture conditions, has a positive impact on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Setting: University hospital.

Severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome modifies early maternal serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin kinetics, but obstetrical and neonatal outcomes are not impacted.

Objective: To study the impact of severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) on beta-hCG kinetics and obstetrical and neonatal outcomes.

Design: Retrospective single-center case-control study.

Setting: University tertiary referral center.

Embryo multinucleation at the two-cell stage is an independent predictor of intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes.

Objective: To determine the prognostic impact of the nuclear status at the two-cell stage on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Hospital.

Diagnostic genetic screening for assisted reproductive technologies patients with macrozoospermia.

Macrozoospermia is characterized by a high proportion of abnormal spermatozoa with enlarged heads. So far, it has been associated with mutations only in the Aurora Kinase C gene (AURKC) in some cases. Although many publications have reported failure to conceive in couples with macrozoospermia, a few others have described successful pregnancies, thus raising questions as to whether ICSI and AURKC genetic screening should be recommended in all patients with macrozoospermia.

Markers of bone remodeling are associated with arterial stiffness in renal transplanted subjects.

Background: Bone-vessel interaction in chronic renal failure remains poorly understood and could be driven by bone remodeling factors including osteoprotegerin (OPG), fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), parathormone and vitamin D. Only few data are available in renal transplantation. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between bone remodeling factors and large artery function in renal transplant patients.