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Efficacy of artificial oocyte activation in patients with embryo developmental problems: a sibling oocyte control study

  • Gynecologic Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To explore whether artificial oocyte activation (AOA) can improve embryo developmental potentiality and pregnancy outcomes for patients with a history of embryo developmental problem.

Methods

This was a retrospective study and candidate patients with embryo development problems were collected. A total of 1422 MII eggs from the enrolled 140 patients were randomized divided equally into 2 groups, half for the AOA group (AOA), and the rest of sibling mature eggs for the control group (non-AOA). The patients were further divided into two subgroups: (1) the rate of good-quality day 3 embryos was 0% (group 1, n = 66); (2) the rate of good-quality day 3 embryos ranged from 1 to 30% (group 2, n = 74).

Results

In the early embryonic growth, there were no significant differences in the outcomes of AOA and non-AOA groups in terms of normal fertilization rates, cleavage rates, day 3 good-quality embryo rates and available blastocyst rates (72.7% vs. 79.3%, 97.4% vs. 98.0%, 20.1% vs. 19.7%, 6.6% vs. 8.4% in group 1, respectively; 77.7% vs. 81.9%, 98.1% vs. 97.0%, 25.8% vs. 22.1%, 9.6% vs. 9.3% in group 2, respectively). In the late embryonic growth, no significant differences were found in biochemical and clinical pregnancy rates, implantation rates, miscarriage rates, and live-birth rates (50.0% vs. 45.2%, 45.2% vs. 40.5%, 37.3% vs. 31.3%, 10.5% vs. 11.8%, 40.5% vs. 35.7%, respectively) between two groups. In addition, neonatal outcomes were similar in both the groups as well.

Conclusion

Our study demonstrated that the AOA using ionomycin 1 h after ICSI did not bring benefits to the early or late development of embryos derived from patients with a history of embryo developmental problems.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the staff of the Department of Assisted Reproduction in Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital for their contribution.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant numbers: 81701523, 81771649, 81871163, 81971448).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Mingru Yin, Menghui Li and Wenzhi Li contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Assisted Reproduction, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, People’s Republic of China

    Mingru Yin, Menghui Li, Wenzhi Li, Ling Wu, Zhiguang Yan, Jilang Zhao, Jie Ouyang, Qifeng Lyu, Zheng Yan & Bin Li

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  1. Mingru Yin
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Contributions

B.L., Z.Y. and Q.F.L. supervised the entire study, including the procedures, conception, design and completion. M.R.Y., M.H.L. and W.Z.L. contributed the data analysis and drafted the article. L.W., Z.G.Y., J.L.Z. and J.O.Y. were responsible for the collection of data. B.L., Z.Y. and M.R.Y. participated in the interpretation of the study data and in revisions to the article.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qifeng Lyu, Zheng Yan or Bin Li.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

Informed consent

All enrolled patients were informed of the application of AOA technique and wrote informed consents before the treatment cycles.

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Yin, M., Li, M., Li, W. et al. Efficacy of artificial oocyte activation in patients with embryo developmental problems: a sibling oocyte control study. Arch Gynecol Obstet 305, 1225–1231 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-021-06329-8

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