Comparison of Calcimycin and Ionomycin-induced Assisted Oocyte Activation in Cases with Male Infertility: A Study of Control Sibling Oocytes

Abstract

Using control sibling oocytes, the prospective study on the treatment of male infertility factors was conducted in a private IVF center located in Cairo, Egypt. Each case of male factor infertility was treated with both calcimycin and ionomycin, and then the rate of fertilization, cleavage, and quality of embryo were statistically compared. The total number of included cases in the study was n=112. Pregnancy and postpartum follow-up were not investigated. Calcimycin and ionomycin showed nonsignificant T-value in rates of fertilization, cleavage, and good-quality embryos than non-treated embryos. Group I (n=59) treated versus control show fertilization rate of 76.6%, 48.9%, cleavage rate of 95.4%, 85.3%, the good quality embryos 47.1%, 18.5%, respectively. Group II (n=53) treated versus control show fertilization rate of 81.1 %, 50.8%, cleavage rate of 92.5%, 81.4%, the good quality embryos 42%, 29.9%, respectively. The utilization of assisted oocyte activation, ionomycin, and calcimycin has been proposed to possibly increase the number of zygotes, improve cleavage, and create high-quality embryos, boosting the probability of embryo transfer trials. KEY WORDS: Calcimycin, Ionomycin, Male factor infertility, Sibling oocytes.