Expression data from cumulus cells that surround oocytes resulting in early or late cleaving embryos. Homo sapiens

Besides the established selection criteria based on embryo morphology and blastomere number, new parameters for embryo viability are needed to improve the clinical outcome of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and more particular of elective single embryo transfer (eSET). The aim of the study was to analyse genome-wide whether the embryo viability was reflected by the expression of genes in the oocyte surrounding cumulus cells. Early cleavage (EC) was chosen as a parameter for embryo viability. Keywords: class comparison Overall design: Consenting patients visiting the IVF clinic underwent an IVF or ICSI treatment. Immediately following ultrasound-guided cumulus-oocyte-complex (COC) retrieval, a proportion of the cumulus cells surrounding the oocyte were removed. Gene expression in cumulus cells from eight oocytes resulting in an early cleavage embryo (EC-CC; n=8) and from eight oocytes resulting in a non-EC embryo (NEC-CC; n=8) derived from six patients were analysed using microarrays (n=16). To exclude a differential gene expression due to differences in patient characteristics, samples were paired. From four patients both an EC-CC and a NEC-CC sample were used. From two additional patients two EC-CC as well as two NEC-CC samples were used.

除基于胚胎形态与卵裂球数的既定筛选标准外，亟需开发新型胚胎活力评估参数，以优化体外受精（in vitro fertilization, IVF）的临床结局，尤其针对选择性单胚胎移植（elective single embryo transfer, eSET）场景。本研究旨在从全基因组层面，探究卵母细胞周围卵丘细胞的基因表达是否可反映胚胎活力。研究选取早期卵裂（early cleavage, EC）作为胚胎活力的评估参数。关键词：类别比较（class comparison）

试验设计：招募签署知情同意书的IVF门诊患者，接受体外受精或卵胞浆内单精子注射（intracytoplasmic sperm injection, ICSI）治疗。在超声引导下获取卵冠丘复合物（cumulus-oocyte complex, COC）后，即刻分离部分卵母细胞外周的卵丘细胞。本研究共纳入来自6名患者的16份卵丘细胞样本，采用基因芯片（microarray）技术分析其基因表达水平：其中8份样本取自可形成早期卵裂胚胎的卵母细胞（EC-CC；n=8），剩余8份取自无法形成早期卵裂胚胎的卵母细胞（NEC-CC；n=8）。为排除患者个体特征差异引发的基因表达差异，所有样本均采用配对设计：其中4名患者各提供1份EC-CC样本与1份NEC-CC样本；另外2名患者各提供2份EC-CC样本与2份NEC-CC样本。