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.

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.

Vps13b is required for acrosome biogenesis through functions in Golgi dynamic and membrane trafficking.

The sperm acrosome is a lysosome-related organelle that develops using membrane trafficking from the Golgi apparatus as well as the endolysosomal compartment. How vesicular trafficking is regulated in spermatids to form the acrosome remains to be elucidated. VPS13B, a RAB6-interactor, was recently shown involved in endomembrane trafficking.

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.

Differential long non-coding RNA expression profiles in human oocytes and cumulus cells.

Progress in assisted reproductive technologies strongly relies on understanding the regulation of the dialogue between oocyte and cumulus cells (CCs). Little is known about the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the human cumulus-oocyte complex (COC). To this aim, publicly available RNA-sequencing data were analyzed to identify lncRNAs that were abundant in metaphase II (MII) oocytes (BCAR4, C3orf56, TUNAR, OOEP-AS1, CASC18, and LINC01118) and CCs (NEAT1, MALAT1, ANXA2P2, MEG3, IL6STP1, and VIM-AS1).

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.

Does Embryo Culture Medium Influence the Health and Development of Children Born after In Vitro Fertilization?

In animal studies, extensive data revealed the influence of culture medium on embryonic development, foetal growth and the behaviour of offspring. However, this impact has never been investigated in humans. For the first time, we investigated in depth the effects of embryo culture media on health, growth and development of infants conceived by In Vitro Fertilization until the age of 5 years old.

The placenta: phenotypic and epigenetic modifications induced by Assisted Reproductive Technologies throughout pregnancy.

Today, there is growing interest in the potential epigenetic risk related to assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Much evidence in the literature supports the hypothesis that adverse pregnancy outcomes linked to ART are associated with abnormal trophoblastic invasion. The aim of this review is to investigate the relationship between epigenetic dysregulation caused by ART and subsequent placental response.

Impact on ICSI outcomes of adding 24 h of in vitro culture before testicular sperm freezing: a retrospective study.

Purpose: To compare sperm parameters and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes for testicular spermatozoa frozen on the day of the biopsy (DO) with those frozen after 24 h of in vitro culture (D1).

Methods: In this retrospective study, from 1999 to 2012, forty-nine azoospermic patients were included to compare sperm (motility and viability) and outcomes (fertilization (FR), implantation (IR), pregnancy (PR) and delivery rates (DR)).

Results: The in vitro culture increased total motility (+2.

Germline correction of an epimutation related to Silver-Russell syndrome.

Like genetic mutations, DNA methylation anomalies or epimutations can disrupt gene expression and lead to human diseases. However, unlike genetic mutations, epimutations can in theory be reverted through developmental epigenetic reprograming, which should limit their transmission across generations. Following the request for a parental project of a patient diagnosed with Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS), and the availability of both somatic and spermatozoa DNA from the proband and his father, we had the exceptional opportunity to evaluate the question of inheritance of an epimutation.

Alteration of DNA demethylation dynamics by in vitro culture conditions in rabbit pre-implantation embryos.

Alterations to DNA methylation have been attributed to in vitro culture and may affect normal embryo development. We chose to analyze DNA methylation reprogramming in the rabbit which, of the species with delayed transcriptional activation of the embryonic genome, allows easy comparisons between in vivo-developed (IVD) and in vitro-cultured (IVC) embryos. In this species, variations in DNA methylation had not previously been quantified, even in IVD embryos.