Boost for successful IVF and foetal gender
14 Feb 2012 by Evoluted New Media
By imaging and tracking movements in the egg during fertilisation, Welsh scientists can identify embryos likely to result in a successful pregnancy, while a South Korean team have developed a simple blood test to predict foetal gender in the first trimester.
A team from Cardiff University has developed a technique to identify embryos destined for a successful pregnancy – a finding which could boost IVF rates and reduce multiple births. They used advanced imaging techniques to analyse donated eggs injected with an egg-activating sperm-specific protein – PLC-zeta. Over several hours, researchers imaged the cytoplasm to track discrete and distinct rhythmic patterns that occur during stimulation at fertilisation.
“We already know from previous research in mice that sperm entry into the mouse egg triggers ‘rhythmic cytoplasmic motions’, which may help to predict successful embryo development,” said Professor Karl Swann, who led the research at the School of Medicine. “Adopting this key method we have now been able to show that the same type of rhythmic movements occur in human eggs.
For the first time, scientists were able to view distinct internal movements or spasms which correlate with the exact timing of biochemical changes occurring at fertilisation. This information could help provide an early and effective indication of viability of a successful pregnancy in human IVF.
“There is still a great deal of additional research to confirm whether these movements directly correlate with positive pregnancy – but this technique holds the promise of predicting the best embryo for IVF which should help cut down on multiple pregnancies that often occur during IFV treatment as a result of transferring several embryos at a time,” said Swann.
Meanwhile, scientists from South Korea have developed a non-invasive test that could let expectant mothers find out the sex of their unborn child as early as the first trimester. The various ratios of two enzymes, DYS14/GAPDH – which can be extracted from the mother’s blood – indicate if the baby will be a boy or girl.
The hope is that this test – the first of its kind – could reduce the need for invasive procedures in pregnant women carrying X-linked chromosomal abnormalities and clarify inconclusive reading by ultrasound, said Hyun Mee Ryu from KwanDong University School of Medicine, who was involved in the research.
The work was published in Fertility and Sterility and The FASEB Journal respectively
