Effects of human diabetic serum on the in vitro development of mouse preimplantation embryos

The effects of sera from different types of human diabetes (type I with and without ketoacidosis; type II treated with insulin or Daonil or untreated) on the in vitro development of early preimplantation mouse embryos were studied. In controls, 20% of blastocysts failed to develop successfully when grown for 72 h in RPMI medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 50% nondiabetic human serum. In experiments using 50% diabetic serum, the highest embryotoxic effect was found in type-I diabetes with and without ketoacidosis: The percents of undeveloped embryos were 66 and 58, respectively. In type-II diabetes, embryotoxic effects were found among all studied types: The percent of undeveloped blastocysts varied from 36% in insulin-treated type-II diabetes to 44% in untreated type-II diabetes. A high correlation was found between the number of undeveloped embryos and the blood concentrations of metabolic diabetic factors: glucose (r = .53-.64 in type-I diabetes), B-HOB (r = .7-.77 in type-II diabetes untreated or treated with Daonil), acetoacetate (r = .66 in insulin-treated type-II diabetes), and HbA1c (r = .89 in insulin-treated type-II diabetes or .99 in Daonil-treated type-II diabetes). A concentration of 80% serum was embryo-toxic when obtained from nondiabetic or from diabetic human. The possible role of diabetic metabolic factors in causing increased risk of spontaneous abortions and infertility among diabetic women is discussed.