Morphokinetics and amino acid consumption in pre-implantation embryo development: predictors of blastocyst formation

Thecombination of the morphokinetic parameters of an individual embryo and its capacity for consuming amino acids in spent culture media may provide a tool for the predictionof its potential to develop a blastocyst. the current study is aprospective cohort study including 161 Day 5 embryos developed from ICSI of 202 MII oocytes obtained from 30 females aged 30.13 ± 4.83 years, Embryos were divided into two groups according to their developmental potential to form a blastocyst, "Developed Group" developed embryos to blastocyst and "Arrested Group" arrested embryos which remain compact. LC-MS/MS was used to evaluate amino acid consumption, and embryo developmental time points were determined by identifying morphokinetic parameters using time-lapse imaging. By using univariate analysis, it was found that tPNa (OR 0.881; 95 % CI, 0.793-0.977; P = 0.017), t2 (OR 0.912; 95 % CI, 0.858-0.970; P = 0.004), CC2 (OR 1.083; 95 % CI, 1.015-1.156; P = 0.017), L-Valine (OR 1.012; 95 % CI, 1.003-1.020; P = 0.008), L-phenylalanine 2 (OR 1.027; 95 % CI, 1.008-1.047; P = 0.006) and L-Proline (OR 1.024; 95 % CI, 1.002-1.045; P = 0.029) was statistically significantly associated to the successful embryo development to the blastocyst stage. By assessing multivariate analysis, tPNa was a significant independent predictor for successful embryo development to the blastocyst stage. In conclusion, our preliminary findings suggest that integrating morphokinetic parameters with amino acid profiling holds promise as a powerful tool to enhance embryo viability assessment and support more informed decision-making in embryo selection.