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Time-lapse observations to analyze the effects of assisted hatching

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Reproductive Medicine and Biology

Abstract

Purpose

Assisted hatching (AH) is an artificial disruption of the zona pellucida with the aim of facilitating embryo implantation. We used time-lapse observations of mouse embryos to examine the effect of AH in mouse blastocysts.

Methods

AH techniques were performed with acid Tyrode’s solution. We compared the rates of blastocyst formation and blastocyst attachment to Ishikawa cells between the control (n = 28) and the AH group (n = 24). To analyze the effects of AH, 8-cell mice embryos were cultured under time-lapse observations (every 15 min). The time required for hatching, the hatching rates, the frequency of contraction, and the contraction rates in the blastocysts were analyzed.

Results

There were no significant differences between the two groups in hatching rate or attachment rate. The times required for hatching were 286 ± 22 min in the AH group and 990 ± 437 min in the control group (P = 0.018). The contraction frequencies in blastocysts were 3.5 ± 0.7 times in the AH group and 7.5 ± 2.5 times in the control group (P = 0.020).

Conclusions

From the time-lapse observations we found that the time required for hatching and the frequency of contraction in blastocysts were both reduced by AH, although blastocyst formation and attachment were not affected.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest. All institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan

    Maki Goto, Akira Iwase, Nao Kato, Ai Saito, Masahiko Mori, Satoko Osuka, Mika Kondo, Tomoko Nakamura, Tatsuo Nakahara & Fumitaka Kikkawa

  2. Department of Maternal and Perinatal Medicine, Nagoya University Hospital, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan

    Akira Iwase

  3. Department of Medical Technique, Nagoya University Hospital, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan

    Naomi Furusawa, Harumi Kobayashi & Hiroyuki Matsumoto

Authors
  1. Maki Goto
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  2. Akira Iwase
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  3. Naomi Furusawa
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  4. Harumi Kobayashi
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  13. Fumitaka Kikkawa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akira Iwase.

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Goto, M., Iwase, A., Furusawa, N. et al. Time-lapse observations to analyze the effects of assisted hatching. Reprod Med Biol 13, 217–221 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12522-014-0182-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12522-014-0182-4

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