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Published on: December 28, 2016
Time-lapse evaluation of human embryo development in single versus sequential culture media--a sibling oocyte study
Haydar Nadir Ciray1, Turan Aksoy, Cihan Goktas
1Fulya IVF Clinic, Bahceci Health Group, Hakki Yeten cd 11, Terrace Fulya, Istanbul, Turkey. nadirc@superonline.com
Objective:
To compare the dynamics of early development between embryos cultured in single and sequential media.
Design:
Randomized, comparative study.
Setting:
Private IVF centre.
Patients:
A total of 446 metaphase II oocytes from 51 couples who underwent oocyte retrieval procedure for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Forty-nine resulted in embryo transfer.
Intervention:
Oocytes were split between single and sequential media produced by the same manufacturer and cultured in a time-lapse incubator.
Main Outcome Measures:
Morphokinetic parameters until the embryos reached the 5-cell stage (t5), utilization, clinical pregnancy and implantation rates.
Results:
Embryos cultured in single media were advanced from the first mitosis cycle and reached 2- to 5-cell stages earlier. There was not any difference between the durations for cell cycle two (cc2 = t3-t2) and s2 (t4-t3). The utilization, clinical pregnancy and implantation rates did not differ between groups. The proportion of cryopreserved day 6 embryos to two pronuclei oocytes was significantly higher in sequential than in single media.
Conclusions:
Morphokinetics of embryo development vary between single and sequential culture media at least until the 5-cell stage. The overall clinical and embryological parameters remain similar regardless of the culture system.

