Screening of maternal sera using a mouse embryo culture assay is not predictive of human embryo development or IVF outcome.

PURPOSE

Maternal serum is commonly added to media used for human IVF but can vary widely in its ability to support the development of human embryos in vitro. The objective of this study was to determine if the screening of maternal serum with a mouse one-cell embryo culture assay would be useful in predicting human embryo development and clinical outcome following IVF.

METHODS

Twenty-two individual serum samples from IVF patients were used as a supplement (7.5%) to Ham's F-10 media for culturing human embryos. All embryos were evaluated at the time of transfer for stage of development and embryo quality. Each serum sample was also tested for its ability to support mouse embryo development. One-cell embryos were recovered from superovulated female mice and cultured in serum-supplemented media. Mouse blastocyst development was assessed after 96 h of incubation.

RESULTS

No correlation was found between mouse blastocyst formation and human embryo development in media supplemented with maternal sera. Similarly, there was no association between the development of mouse blastocysts and clinical outcome following IVF. A subanalysis of patients whose sera tested poorly on the mouse assay again revealed no association between mouse and human embryo development.

CONCLUSION

Mouse embryo development in media containing human serum did not predict development of human embryos in vitro or clinical outcome following IVF. There would be little benefit to screening maternal sera using a mouse embryo culture system for determining its suitability for use in human IVF.