Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2024-05-14T22:57:34.425Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Human zygote morphological indicators of higher rate of arrest at the first cleavage stage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2010

Raquel Blanes Zamora ,
Rebeca Vaca Sánchez ,
Jonay González Pérez ,
Rubí Rodríguez Díaz ,
Delia Báez Quintana  and
José C. Alberto Bethencourt
Raquel Blanes Zamora*
Affiliation:
Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), Servicio de Ginecología y Obstetricia, Unidad de Reproducción Humana, Carretera General. Ofra S/N La Cuesta, 38320 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
Rebeca Vaca Sánchez
Affiliation:
Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), Servicio de Ginecología y Obstetricia, Unidad de Reproducción Humana, Carretera General. Ofra S/N La Cuesta, 38320 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
Jonay González Pérez
Affiliation:
Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), Servicio de Ginecología y Obstetricia, Unidad de Reproducción Humana, Carretera General. Ofra S/N La Cuesta, 38320 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
Rubí Rodríguez Díaz
Affiliation:
Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), Servicio de Ginecología y Obstetricia, Unidad de Reproducción Humana, Carretera General. Ofra S/N La Cuesta, 38320 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
Delia Báez Quintana
Affiliation:
Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), Servicio de Ginecología y Obstetricia, Unidad de Reproducción Humana, Carretera General. Ofra S/N La Cuesta, 38320 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
José C. Alberto Bethencourt
Affiliation:
Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), Servicio de Ginecología y Obstetricia, Unidad de Reproducción Humana, Carretera General. Ofra S/N La Cuesta, 38320 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
*
All correspondence to: Raquel Blanes Zamora. Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), Servicio de Ginecología y Obstetricia, Unidad de Reproducción Humana, Carretera General. Ofra S/N La Cuesta, 38320 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. Tel: +34 922 678 583. e-mail: rblaneszamora@yahoo.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A little studied aspect of developmental arrest (DA) in ART is zygote arrest (ZA). Etiologically, blockage at the first cleavage stage includes molecular and chromosomal anomalies, some of which manifest morphologically. Given considerations on embryo culture, transfer and cryopreservation, optimal zygote selection is very important. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether zygote morphological features were indicators of increased ZA. In this study we performed a prospective, observational study of 2105 zygotes obtained from consecutive patients who were undergoing IVF/ICSI treatment, of which 43 (2%) suffered ZA. Morphological features observed under the inverted microscope were qualitatively categorized: pronuclear size, nucleolar precursor bodies (NPB) alignment, light and dark halos, polar body placement and fragmentation observed at 16–18 h post-insemination. We compared these features in blocked versus cleaved zygotes at 48 h and found significant correlations (p < 0.05) between ZA and three features: the absence of a light halo (p = 0.001), the absence of a dark halo (p < 0.005), and non-aligned NPB (p < 0.05). We can say that certain morphological features are indicators of significantly increased zygote arrest. These findings may be of utility for optimal zygote selection and culture strategies, especially in countries under restrictive conditions.

Keywords

First cleavage stageDark haloLight haloMorphological featuresNucleolar precursor body alignmentZygote arrest
Type
Research Article
Information
Zygote , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , November 2011 , pp. 339 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benkhalifa, M., Kahraman, S., Caserta, D., Domez, E. & Qumsiyeh, M.B. (2003). Morphological and cytogenetic analysis of intact oocytes and blocked zygotes. Prenat. Diagn. 23, 397–404.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chi, L., de Jesus, E., Adler, A., Grifo, J.A., Berkeley, A.S. & Krey, L.C. (2000). 2-cell stage arrest in human embryos: incidence and developmental potential in different culture media. Fertil. Steril. 74 (Supp1.1)S222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebner, T., Moser, M., Sommergruber, M., Gaiswinkler, U., Wiesinger, R., Puchner, M. & Tews, G. (2003). Presence, but not type or degree of extension, of a cytoplasmic halo has a significant influence on preimplantation development and implantation behaviour. Hum. Reprod. 18, 2406–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Favetta, L.A., St John, E.J., King, W.A. & Betts, D.H. (2007). High levels of p66shc and intracellular ROS in permanently arrested early embryos. Free Radic Biol. Med. 42, 1201–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gámiz, P., Rubio, C., de los Santos, M.J., Mercader, A., Simón, C., Remohí, J. & Pellicer, A. (2003). The effect of pronuclear morphology on early development and chromosomal abnormalities in cleavage-stage embryos. Hum. Reprod. 18, 2413–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gianaroli, L., Magli, M.C., Ferraretti, A.P., Fortini, D. & Griego, N. (2003). Pronuclear morphology and chromosomal abnormalities as scoring criteria for embryo selection. Fertil. Steril. 80, 341–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hardy, K., Spanos, S., Becker, D., Iannelli, P., Winston, R.M.L. & Stark, J. (2001). From cell death to embryo arrest: mathematical models of human preimplantation embryo development. Dev. Biol. 98, 1655–60.Google ScholarPubMed
Howlet, S.K. & Bolton, V.N. (1985) Sequence and regulation of morphological and molecular events during the first cell cycle of mouse embryogenesis. J. Embryol. Exp. Morph. 87, 175–206.Google Scholar
Kattera, S. & Chen, C. (2004). Developmental potential of human pronuclear zygotes in relation to their pronuclear orientation. Hum. Reprod. 19, 294–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kiessling, A., Bletsa, R., Desmarais, B., Mara, C., Kallianidis, K. & Loutradis, D. (2009). Evidence that human blastomere cleavage is under unique cell cycle control. J. Assist. Reprod. Genet. 26, 187–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manor, D., Drugan, A., Stein, D., Pillar, M. & Itskovitz-Eldor, J. (1999). Unequal pronuclear size–a powerful predictor of embryonic chromosome anomalies. J. Assist. Reprod. Genet. 16, 385–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Montag, M, Van Der Ven, H.and [30 authors] on behalf of the German Pronuclear Morphology Study Group. (2001). Evaluation of pronuclear morphology as the only selection criterion for further embryo culture and transfer: results of a prospective multicentre study. Hum. Reprod. 16, 2384–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munné, S., Tang, Y.X., Grifo, J. & Cohen, J. (1993). Origin of single pronucleated human zygotes. J. Assist. Reprod. Genet. 10, 276–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palermo, G., Munné, S. & Cohen, J. (1994). The human zygote inherits its mitotic potential from the male gamete. Hum. Reprod. 9, 1220–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Payne, D., Flaherty, S.P., Barry, M.F. & Matthews, C.D. (1997). Preliminary observations on polar body extrusion and pronuclear formation in human oocytes using time-lapse video cinematography. Hum. Reprod. 12, 532–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rawe, V.Y., Brugo Olmedo, S., Nodar, F.N., Poncio, R. & Sutovsky, P. (2003). Abnormal assembly of annulate lamellae and nuclear pore complexes coincides with fertilization arrest at the pronuclear stage of human zygotic development. Hum. Reprod. 18, 576–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sadowy, S., Tomkin, G., Munné, S., Ferrara-Congedo, T. & Cohen, J. (1998). Impaired development of zygotes with uneven pronuclear size. Zygote 6, 137–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sathananthan, A.H., Ratnam, S.S., Ng, S.C., Tarín, J.J., Gianaroli, L. & Trounson, A. (1996). The sperm centriole: its inheritance, replication and perpetuation in early human embryos. Hum. Reprod. 11, 345–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salumets, A., Hydén-Granskog, C., Suikkari, A.M., Tiitinen, A. & Tuuri, T. (2001). The predictive value of pronuclear morphology of zygotes in the assessment of human embryo quality. Hum. Reprod. 16, 2177–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, L. & Smith, S. (1998). The successful use of pronuclear embryo transfers the day following oocyte retrieval. Hum. Reprod. 13, 1003–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, L., Alvero, R., Leondires, M. & Miller, B. (2000). The morphology of human pronuclear embryos is positively related to blastocyst development and implantation. Hum. Reprod. 15, 2394–403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tesarik, J. & Greco, E. (1999). The probability of abnormal preimplantation development can be predicted by a single static observation on pronuclear stage morphology. Hum. Reprod. 14, 1318–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Uzbekova, S, Roy-Sabau, M., Dalbiès-Tran, R., Perreau, C., Papillier, P., Mompart, F., Thelie, A., Pennetier, S., Cognie, J., Cadoret, V., Royere, D., Monget, P. & Mermillod, P. (2006). Zygote arrest I dene in pig, cattle and human: evidence of different transcript variants in male and female germ cells. Reprod. Biol. Endocrinol. 4, 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, X., Viveiros, M.M., Eppig, J.J., Bai, Y., Fitzpatrick, S.L. & Matzuk, M.M. (2003). Zygote arrest 1 (Zar 1) is a novel maternal-effect gene critical for the oocyte-to-embryo transition. Nat. Genet. 33, 187–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhivkova, R.S., Delimitreva, S.H., Toncheva, D.I. & Vatev, I.T. (2007). Analysis of human unfertilized oocytes and pronuclear zygotes—correlation between chromosome/chromatin status and patient-related factors. Eur. J. Obstet. Gynecol. Reprod. Biol. 130, 73–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed