Assessment of aneuploidy in the human female by using cytogenetics of IVF failures.

The karyotype was determined for 201 unfertilized human oocytes recovered from 87 women participating in an in vitro fertilization program. Their mean age was 30.6 years (range 22-40 years). Thirteen oocytes did not exhibit the first polar body and were found to be in the first-metaphase stage. The remaining 188 eggs were assessed as mature and classified into two groups according to the supposed origin of fertilization failure. The overall incidence of aneuploidy was 18.6%. This rate was higher in the group of unexplained fertilization failure (22.5%) than in the group of fertilization failure due to sperm deficiency (10.2%). This may reflect a relationship between the genomic constitution of the oocyte and its fertilizability. On the other hand, no increase of aneuploidy was observed with maternal aging.