Background: The data are compiled from two multicentre, prospectively randomized studies on the effect of follicular fluid meiosis-activating sterol (FF-MAS) on human oocytes. The donated oocytes were exposed either to test doses of FF-MAS or to control solutions. The data from the control groups are presented with chromosomal status of the embryos correlated to embryo morphology.
Methods: The study includes 144 randomly selected donated human oocytes. The nucleus from each blastomere was fixed separately and fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) using seven probes (13, 16, 18, 21, 22, X and Y) was performed.
Results: Analysis of 103 pre-embryos containing 479 blastomeres resulted in 424 blastomeres with clear FISH signals. Of these blastomeres, 55% were normal diploid and 45% were abnormal. At a pre-embryonic level, 53% were classified as normal containing >or=50% normal blastomeres while 31% of the pre-embryos were classified as uniformly normal. Abnormality rate was significantly increased in the pre-embryos with unevenly sized blastomeres and with increasing degree of fragmentation at 68 h after fertilization. Applying criteria for good embryo quality significantly increased the rate of chromosomally normal pre-embryos from 53 to 75%.
Conclusions: The data demonstrate the high degree of genetic heterogeneity in a randomly selected pool of donated pre-embryos from an IVF programme. Further, we found that uniformity of blastomere size, degree of fragmentation and cleavage kinetics reflect the cytogenetic status of the pre-embryo and are therefore important in the selection of pre-embryos.