Evaluation of serum-associated embryotoxicity in women with reproductive disorders

Our purpose was to determine whether some cases of infertility may be due to serological factors inhibiting development of the embryo.

We examined the effect of infertile women's sera on the expansion, attachment, and spreading of mouse blastocysts in culture. Cell marker expression was also assayed by an indirect immunofluorescence technique. Serum samples from 75 infertile women were compared to the effect of 24 control AB sera.

After 72 hr, blastocyst spreading was significantly different depending on whether cultured in sera from women with unexplained infertility, anovulatory infertility, diethylstilbesterol exposure or controls. Neither sera from women with mechanical infertility (14) nor sera from women with endometriosis (8) affected blastocyst growth in culture.

Inhibitory sera were capable of reducing cytokeratin expression but had no effect on placental alkaline phosphatase or concanavalin A expression by blastocyst cells. It can be inferred that the inhibitory effect of sera from women with certain types of infertility might be due to damage to the cytoskeleton. This in vitro assay may predict the success or failure of IVF.