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Updated: Aug 26, 2025
Chromosome Screening of Human Preimplantation Embryos by Using Spent Culture Medium: Sample Collection and Chromosomal Ploidy Analysis
Published on: September 7, 2021
A prospective study to evaluate the gender prediction of blastocysts by using cell-free DNA within a culture medium
Somayeh Barzanouni1, Farideh Moramezi1,2, Mahvash Zargar1
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
Background:
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been used as an option for couples with the possibility of having a baby with a genetic disorder. The common method for performing this test involves isolating 1 cell from day 3 or a few cells from day 5 embryos and performing genetic studies on the cell-extracted DNA. This method is invasive and can cause abortion after implantation in the uterus. Because of this, 2 noninvasive methods for performing a PGD have been studied: PGD using blastocyst fluid and PGD using embryo culture medium.
Objective:
The aim of this study is to determine the sensitivity of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to detect the Y chromosome using cell-free DNA within a culture medium for gender prediction of blastocysts.
Materials And Methods:
In this study, the gender of 30 embryos on day 5 was determined using embryonic DNA extraction from the culture medium and the PCR technique to evaluate the sex-determining region Y and fragile X mental retardation genes. Then, the accuracy was assessed using ultrasound.
Results:
The results of the PCR technique showed that 7 embryos were male, but an ultrasound revealed that 13 were male.
Conclusion:
The given results indicated that, because of the low amount of DNA extracted from the culture medium, the diagnosis of the existence of the Y chromosome by this method is still not accurate enough for detecting the gender of the embryo.
