Morphological Differences between Embryos Treated with In Vitro Maturation and Routine IVF Detected with Time Lapse Monitoring Incubator

Abstract

Background: In preparation for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), in vitro maturation (IVM) is hypothesized to be required for harvesting mature enough oocyte. Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the morphological differences of embryos treated with IVM in comparison with those which are treated with routine in vitro fertilization (IVF) method using time lapse monitoring incubator. Method: This study is a preliminary study. After ovum pick-up, the immature oocyte was cultured in vitro under optimized condition to obtain M-II oocyte. ICSI was then conducted to both the oocyte which is treated with IVM and the one which is treated by routine IVF. Changes in the embryo’s morphology, such as the time of cleavage and PN breakdown (PNB), were observed using time lapse monitoring incubator every 20 minutes until the third day. Result: Embryo treated with routine IVF shows better development compared with the one treated with IVM. The PNB time of IVF and IVM embryos are similar at 23 hours after ICSI, with the cleavage time of 22 hours in IVF-treated embryo and 31 hours in IVM-treated embryo. IVF-treated embryos can reach 8 cells cleavage at 46 hours while IVM treated embryos only reached 2 cells cleavage. Fragmentation is shown on both embryo, however the fragment in IVF-treated embryo is missing after 12 hours. Conclusion: Embryos which is treated with IVM cleavage later than embryo treated with routine IVF prove in time lapse monitoring incubator.