Use of a medium devoid of any human or animal compound (SMART2(1)) for embryo culture in intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Purpose: Our purpose was to evaluate the efficiency of a medium, devoid of any human or animal compound and specially designed for early embryo develo pment (from the zygote to the eight-cell stage), SMART2, in intracytoplasmi c sperm injection (ICSI) and to compare it with a medium containing human s erum albumin (EllioStep2). Methods: Oocytes from 50 ICSI attempts were randomly placed, after sperm in jection, bite either SMAR2 or EllioStep2. After a 48-hr incubation, the emb ryos were examined for quality scoring before transfer or freezing. Results: The percentage of normally fertilized oocytes per intact oocytes w as slightly higher using SMART2 (139/199 vs. 135/224, respectively for SMAR T2 and EllioStep2; P < 0.05). The distribution of embryo scores and the per centage of embryos with a fair morphology (71/143 vs. 72/148, respectively: for SMAR2 and EllioStep2; not significant) were identical in both media. Conclusions: These data show that SMART2 medium can be successfully used fo r early, embryo growth and, because it is devoid of any human or animal com pound, offers better safety for patients than conventional media.