Y. Barak et al., Does glucose affect fertilization, development and pregnancy rates of human in-vitro fertilized oocytes?, HUM REPR, 13, 1998, pp. 203-211
The study was conducted to examine whether the presence of glucose in the i
ncubation medium affects fertilization, development and implantation rates
of human oocytes of patients who were attending our in-vitro fertilization
programme. Harvested oocytes were transferred into one of four different me
dia: human tubal fluid (HTF), P1, M3 and IVF-Universal (IVF-Med). Three of
these contained glucose; the fourth (P1), contained no glucose or phosphate
ions. In an independent preliminary study, some of the oocytes of each pat
ient were incubated in IVF-Med, which lacks phosphate ions, but not glucose
. Comparisons of fertilization rates between media pairs showed differences
among all pairs except HTF and M3. When comparing the four study groups, n
o difference was noticed in embryo development or embryo quality 48 h post-
ovum retrieval. A higher development rate was demonstrated in embryos incub
ated in M3 medium, in comparison with the pi and IVF-Med embryos after incu
bation for 72 h. No difference in pregnancy rate was found after embryo tra
nsfers of preimplantation embryos which were incubated in one of the follow
ing media: HTF, M3 and IVF-Med (seven out of 22, 18 of 54 and 32 of 69 trea
tment cycles respectively). A lower incidence of pregnancies occurred follo
wing transfers of embryos which were incubated in pi medium (seven pregnanc
ies out of 37 cycles). We suggest that the presence of glucose in the incub
ation medium enhances implantation potential of in-vitro-developing preimpl
antation embryos.