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A new method to study the process of implantation of a human blastocyst in vitro
B M Landgren1, E Johannisson, A Stavreus-Evers
1Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Objectives:
To develop a "miniorgan" culture of human endometrium dated according to the LH peak in order to study the process of implantation of a human blastocyst in vitro.
Design:
Preliminary results of a more extensive study with the same objectives.
Setting:
Hospital-based unit of reproductive health and university-related reproductive research laboratories.
Patients:
Six apparently healthy women with normal regular menstrual cycles providing endometrial material 4, 5 and 6 days after the LH peak.
Intervention:
One part of the biopsy was used for histologic dating. The other part was incubated in culture medium RPMI-1640 and exposed to the contact with one to three embryos fertilized in vitro.
Main Outcome Measure:
Biopsy material before and after incubation was studied by morphometric methods in a light microscope. The histologic changes were recorded by photomicrographs.
Results:
Implantation of an embryo obtained 4 days after IVF penetrated the lining endometrial epithelium of a biopsy obtained 4 days after the LH peak and kept in vitro for 24 hours. The embryo was placed on the lining epithelium of the endometrium within 3 hours after the biopsy was taken.
Conclusion:
A new method to study the process of implantation of a human embryo in vitro has been described, allowing the embryo to penetrate the lining endometrial epithelium in a biopsy obtained at LH +4/+5.