Incubator type affects human blastocyst formation and embryo metabolism: a randomized controlled trial.

Study Question: Does the type of incubator used to culture human preimplantation embryos affect development to the blastocyst stage and alter amino acid utilization of embryos in assisted reproduction?

Summary Answer: Culturing embryos in a time lapse system (TLS) was associated with a higher Day 5 blastocyst formation rate and altered amino acid utilization when measured from Day 3 to Day 5 compared to the standard benchtop incubator.

What Is Known Already: Culture environment is known to be important for the developing preimplantation embryo. TLSs provide a stable milieu allowing embryos to be monitored in situ, whereas embryos cultured in standard benchtop incubators experience environmental fluctuations when removed for morphological assessment.

Effect of a 6-week "Mediterranean" dietary intervention on in vitro human embryo development: the Preconception Dietary Supplements in Assisted Reproduction double-blinded randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To study the impact of increased dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and olive oil for 6 weeks before in vitro fertilization (IVF) or IVF-intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) on morphokinetic markers of early embryo development.

Design: A double-blinded randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Academic IVF unit.