Effects of duration of sperm and egg co-incubation on the fertility rate in short-time insemination

Abstract

Objective To investigate effects of duration of sperm and egg co-incubation on the fertility rate in short time insemination.Methods 170 women undergoing in vitro fertilization - embryo transfer ( IVF-ET ) were divided into short-time insemination group ( group 1∶57 women,co-incubation for 2 h to 3 h; group 2:58 women,incubation for 4 h to 5 h ) and routine insemination group ( group 3∶55 women,co-incubation for 18 h ) based on duration of sperm and egg co-incubation.Then the oocytes were transferred to the fresh medium.The rates of fertility,cleavage,high-quality embryo,pregnancy, and implantation were compared among the groups.Results The fertility rate was 63.01％,71.43％,and 78.72％ in each group,with a significant difference ( P＜ 0.05 ).The rates of cleavage and high-quality embryo were lower in group 3 than in groups 1 and 2.There were significant differences in the cleavage rate between group 3 and group 1 ( 97.05％ vs.99.25％ ) and in the high-quality embryo rate between group 3 and group 2 ( 37.14％ vs.44.42％ ) ( P＜ 0.05 ).There were no significant differences in the rates of pregnancy and implantation among the three groups ( P ＞ 0.05 ).Conclusions Short-time insemination is beneficial for elevating the rates of the cleavage and high-quality embryo.The fertility rate of sperm and egg co-incubation for 4 h to 5 h is higher than that of co-incubation for 2 h to 3 h. Key words: In vitro fertilization-embryo transfer; Short-time insemination