ABSENCE OF IMMUNOREACTIVE CYTOKINES IN SUPERNATANTS OF INDIVIDUAL PREIMPLANTATION HUMAN EMBRYOS

PROBLEM: The purpose of this study was to determine if it was possible to use commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIS A) kits to quantitate specific cytokine production from individual emb ryos. METHODS: We examined the supernatants of individual two to six c ell preimplantation human embryos using commerically available kits fo r IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-6, and LIF. RESULTS: Cytokines were undete ctable in all media samples analyzed. CONCLUSION: While it is possible that individual preimplantation embryos may produce cytokines, we bel ieve these concentrations are below the detectable limits of the comme rcial assays used in this study.