Dc. Loutradis et al., A PRELIMINARY TRIAL OF HUMAN ZYGOTE CULTURE IN HAM F-10 WITHOUT HYPOXANTHINE, Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics, 10(4), 1993, pp. 271-275
Purpose: This study deals with the suitability of Ham's F-10 without h
ypoxanthine for early cleavage-stage embryo culture. A high percentage
of mouse two-cell embryos developed into morula and blastocysts in Ha
m's F-10 formulated without hypoxanthine (75.3 and 71.6%, respectively
); in contrast, in agreement with previous reports, only 15.4% develop
ed beyond the two-cell stage in Ham's F-10 with hypoxanthine. To begin
to evaluate the effect of hypoxanthine on human embryos, a total of 3
18 human oocytes was fertilized and cultured in Ham's F-10 minus hypox
anthine. Results: The fertilization, cleavage, and pregnancy percentag
es in two ovulation induction protocols [human menopausal gonadotropin
(hMG)/human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and gonadotropin releasing h
ormone/hMG/hCG] were 82, 88, and 20 and 83, 91, and 30%, respectively.
Conclusion: These results suggest that, in agreement with mouse embry
o development, hypoxanthine does not appear to be necessary for human
embryo cleavage and its omission from Ham's F-10 may enhance the condi
tions for culture of early-cleaving human embryos. These observations
may lead to a better understanding of critical cell processes during e
arly human embryonic development.