Identification of viable embryos in IVF by non-invasive measurement of amino acid turnover

Brison, D.R.
Houghton, F.D.
Falconer, D.
Roberts, S.A.
Hawkhead, J.
Humpherson, P.G.
Lieberman, B.A.
Leese, H.J.

¹Department of Reproductive Medicine, St Mary's Hospital, Manchester M13 OJH, UK
²Department of Biology, University of York, P.O.Box 373, York Y010 5YW, UK
³Manchester Fertility Services, Manchester BUPA Hospital, Russell House, Russell Road, Manchester M16 8AJ, UK
⁴Biostatistics Group, School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK

⁵To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: [email protected]

Submitted on June 8, 2004; accepted on June 16, 2004

Human Reproduction 19(10):p 2319-2324, October 2004.

BACKGROUND

IVF is limited by low success rates and an unacceptably high multiple pregnancy rate. These outcomes would be improved significantly if a single embryo of high viability could be replaced in each treatment cycle, but widespread acceptance of such a policy is hindered by the lack of predictive factors for embryo selection. We have conducted a retrospective clinical study of a novel non-invasive method of embryo selection based on the depletion/appearance of amino acids in the culture medium.

METHODS

Fifty-three cycles of IVF treatment using ICSI were studied. Embryos were cultured for 24 h in 4 μl drops of medium containing a physiological mixture of 18 amino acids. The spent medium was analysed for amino acid content by high performance liquid chromatography.

RESULTS

The turnover of three amino acids, Asn, Gly and Leu, was significantly correlated with a clinical pregnancy and live birth. These correlations were independent of known predictors, such as female age, basal levels of FSH, embryo cell number and embryo morphological grade.

CONCLUSIONS

Non-invasive assay of amino acid turnover has the potential to improve significantly the prospective selection of the most viable embryos, or single embryo, for replacement in an IVF cycle.