The effect of early irregular cell division of human embryos on blastocyst euploidy: considerations from the subsequent development of the blastomeres by direct or reverse cleavage.

Objective: To investigate whether blastocysts that divide irregularly reduce subsequent blastocyst euploidy.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Private clinic.

Evaluation of artificial intelligence using time-lapse images of IVF embryos to predict live birth.

Research Question: Can artificial intelligence (AI) improve the prediction of live births based on embryo images?

Design: The AI system was created by using the Attention Branch Network associated with deep learning to predict the probability of live birth from 141,444 images recorded by time-lapse imaging of 470 transferred embryos, of which 91 resulted in live birth and 379 resulted in non-live birth that included implantation failure, biochemical pregnancy and clinical miscarriage. The possibility that the calculated confidence scores of each embryo and the focused areas visualized in each embryo image can help predict subsequent live birth was examined.

Results: The AI system for the first time successfully visualized embryo features in focused areas that had potential to distinguish between live and non-live births.

CD9 gene variations are not associated with female infertility in humans.

Background/aims: To determine whether genetic alterations in the CD9 gene are associated with female infertility in humans.

Methods: We sequenced the entire coding region of this gene in 86 Japanese women with unexplained infertility and further conducted a case-control study of six tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in this gene using an additional 164 samples obtained from a fertile control group.

Results: No disease-causing mutation in the CD9 gene was evident in these samples and no significant association between the tagging SNPs and the studied cohort was identified.

Effect of selenium and vitamin E on acrosome reaction in porcine spermatozoa.

Purpose: Selenium (Se) and vitamin E (Vit-E), as an integral part of antioxidant systems, play an important role in the motility and acrosome reaction (AR) of mammalian spermatozoa. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Se and Vit-E on motility, viability, AR and accumulation of ammonia in the culture medium during different incubation periods in porcine sperm.

Methods: Sperm samples were washed, swum-up and incubated at 37°C for 1 and 3 h in Sp-TALP medium supplemented with sodium selenite (SS), seleon l-methionine (SeMet) and Vit-E in the presence or absence of ammonia.

Metabolism of exogenous fatty acids, fatty acid-mediated cholesterol efflux, PKA and PKC pathways in boar sperm acrosome reaction.

Purpose: For understanding the roles of fatty acids on the induction of acrosome reaction which occurs under association of cholesterol efflux and PKA or PKC pathways in boar spermatozoa, metabolic fate of alone and combined radiolabeled C-oleic acid and H-linoleic acid incorporated in the sperm was compared, and behavior of cholesterol and effects of PKA and PKC inhibitors upon fatty acid-induced acrosome reaction were examined.

Methods: Semen was collected from a Duroc boar, and the metabolic activities of fatty acids in the spermatozoa were measured using radioactive compounds and thin layer chromatography. Cholesterol efflux was measured with a cholesterol determination assay kit.

Mutations of the SYCP3 gene in women with recurrent pregnancy loss.

Aneuploidy, a chromosomal numerical abnormality in the conceptus or fetus, occurs in at least 5% of all pregnancies and is the leading cause of early pregnancy loss in humans. Accumulating evidence now suggests that the correct segregation of chromosomes is affected by events occurring in prophase during meiosis I. These events include homologous chromosome pairing, sister-chromatid cohesion, and meiotic recombination.

Effect of amino acids and dipeptides on the acrosome reaction and accumulation of ammonia in porcine spermatozoa.

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of amino acids and their dipeptides in the medium related to the urea cycle on the motility, viability, acrosome reaction (AR) and accumulation of ammonia in the medium over different incubation periods in porcine spermatozoa and to assess the utilization of glucose. Porcine spermatozoa were washed, swim-up and incubated at 37°C for 0-4 h in mTALP medium supplemented with 75-600 µmol/L ammonia. Amino acids (1.