Search

The endometrial cycle in response to hormonal stimulation is essential for implantation. The female has endometrium that repeats this cycle through about half of a lifetime. The cycle includes three phases, proliferative, secretory, and menstrual, and each phase has distinct characteristics. The endometrial stromal cells (EnSCs) in each phase also have specialized characteristics, including cell cycle, morphologies, and cellular metabolic state. So we hypothesized that the cells in each phase have unique mitochondrial morphologies because they are generally linked to cellular metabolic state. To investigate the metabolic characteristics in each phase, we investigated the mitochondrial morphologies by transmission electron microscopy, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), and intracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. The decidualized EnSCs have shorter mitochondria than those in the proliferative phase. Besides, they also displayed distinct intracellular structural characteristics compared with the proliferative phase, such as ribosome-rich endoplasmic reticulum and increased formation of vesicles. OCR and luminescent ATP detection assay revealed that the basal respiration and ATP production in the decidualized EnSCs were lower than those in the proliferative phase. Thus, we concluded that morphological and intracellular structural changes were induced during the decidualization. Moreover, the decreased mitochondrial length was shown to correlate with decreased dependency on oxidative phosphorylation and ATP concentration in EnSCs.

Introduction Blastocyst (BLA) quality has been considered an important predictor of successful pregnancy. Furthermore, Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS) has been used for several years with the goal of either improving pregnancy by selecting euploid embryo. As we know, the transmission of unbalanced translocations can cause infertility and miscarriage. So the aim of this study is to assess the correlation with BLA quality and PGS euploidy rate in translocation patients. We also compared the clinical outcomes between female carriers and male carriers. Materials and Methods From May 2014 to December 2017, we performed 61 PGS-IVF cycles in 34 translocation patients. BLA underwent trophectoderm (TE) biopsy on 5 day and 6 day were analyzed using array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) (BAC 1440 chip protocol, Macrogen). BLA morphology was evaluated using Gardner classification (inner cell mass and trophectoderm grades of BB or better: good quality (GQ), BC or worse: poor quality (PQ)). In all cases, BLA were vitrified and thawed for embryo transfer and the only single euploid BLA was transferred. Results Mean maternal age (35.6±3.5, female carrier group vs. 35.1±3.3, male carrier group) and paternal age (37.8±4.7, female carrier group vs. 37.4±4.0 male carrier group) showed no significant differences.61 translocation cycles were classified into 41 male carrier group and 20 female carrier group. We identified male carrier group was a high proportion of BLA (61.3%, 171/279) than female carrier group (32.8%, 58/177). In female carrier groups, from 34 BLA, 18.2% (4/22) were euploid in GQ BLA and 8.3% (1/12) were euploid in PQ BLA. In male carrier groups, from 96 BLA, 32.9% (24/73) were euploid in GQ BLA and 8.7% (2/23) were euploid in PQ BLA.After thawing, transferred single euploid BLA were presented high pregnancy (57.1%, 12/21) and live birth rates (42.9%, 9/21).Within the group of female carrier, 1 patient had a 20% (1/5) pregnancy. In male carrier groups, 11 patients had 68.8% (11/16) pregnancy. Until now, 1 baby was delivered in female carrier group (1 female baby, 3.06kg), and 8 babies were delivered in male carrier group (6 female babies and 2 male babies, 3.31±0.38kg). One case is ongoing after 12 weeks of pregnancy in male carrier group. Conclusion Euploidy and live birth rates were significantly higher for the GQ BLA as compared to PQ BLA in chromosomal translocations.Furthermore, this study shows that BLA and GQ euploidy rates were higher in the male carrier group. We also observed that pregnancy rates and live birth rates were higher in the male carrier group. Additionally, only GQ BLA were born.However, there is a limited number of live birth case in a female carrier group. Therefore, we need more studies to optimize this results.