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Culture Systems and Blastocyst Development

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ART and the Human Blastocyst

Part of the book series: Proceedings in the Serono Symposia USA Series ((SERONOSYMP))

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Abstract

Since the birth of the first in vitro fertilization (IVF) baby in 1978, there have been numerous developments in the field of human assisted reproductive technologies (ART), including the development of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to treat male factor infertility and the development and application of preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Implantation rate, however, which is one of the rate-limiting factors, has remained relatively static. Implantation rates of 10–30% have been reported in the literature for the transfer of cleavage stage embryos conceived through IVF. These values are somewhat below the 60% implantation rate reported by Buster and colleagues (1), who were able to transfer in vivo—developed human blastocysts to recipient patients. This therefore raises some important questions: Why is the implantation rate of the cleavage stage embryo so low and can it be improved? Second, does the blastocyst on Day 5 have a higher implantation rate than an embryo transferred between Days 1 and 3? If the latter is the case, then one should consider the move to blastocyst transfer in human IVF.

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  1. David K. Gardner
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  2. Michelle Lane
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  3. William B. Schoolcraft
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, Englewood, CO, 80110, USA

    David K. Gardner D.Phil.  & Michelle Lane Ph.D.  & 

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Gardner, D.K., Lane, M., Schoolcraft, W.B. (2001). Culture Systems and Blastocyst Development. In: Gardner, D.K., Lane, M. (eds) ART and the Human Blastocyst. Proceedings in the Serono Symposia USA Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0149-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0149-3_10

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