Graduate School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology, Kindai University, Kinokawa, Wakayama, Japan.
Asada Institute for Reproductive Medicine, Asada Ladies Clinic, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.
PeerJ. 2022 May 16;10:e13441. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13441. eCollection 2022.
Although the current evaluation of human blastocysts is based on the Gardner criteria, there may be other notable parameters. The purpose of our study was to clarify whether the morphology of blastocysts has notable indicators other than the Gardner criteria.
To find such indicators, we compared blastocysts that showed elevated human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels after transplantation (hCG-positive group; = 129) and those that did not (hCG-negative group; = 105) using principal component analysis of pixel brightness of the images.
The comparison revealed that the hCG-positive group had grainy morphology and the hCG-negative group had non-grainy morphology. Classification of the blastocysts by this indicator did not make a difference in Gardner score. Interestingly, all embryos with ≥20% fragmentation were non-grainy. The visual classification based on this analysis was significantly more accurate than the prediction of implantation using the Gardner score ≥3BB. As graininess can be used in combination with the Gardner score, this indicator will enhance current reproductive technologies.
尽管目前对人类囊胚的评估是基于 Gardner 标准，但可能还有其他值得注意的参数。我们的研究目的是阐明囊胚的形态是否除了 Gardner 标准之外还有其他显著的指标。
为了找到这些指标，我们使用图像像素亮度的主成分分析比较了移植后 hCG 水平升高的囊胚（hCG 阳性组；n = 129）和未升高的囊胚（hCG 阴性组；n = 105）。
比较显示，hCG 阳性组的囊胚呈颗粒状，hCG 阴性组的囊胚呈非颗粒状。根据该指标对囊胚进行分类，在 Gardner 评分上没有差异。有趣的是，所有≥20%碎片的胚胎均呈非颗粒状。基于该分析的视觉分类比使用 Gardner 评分≥3BB 预测着床的准确性更高。由于颗粒度可以与 Gardner 评分结合使用，因此该指标将增强现有的生殖技术。
