The influence of prefreeze growth rate and blastomere number on cryosurvival and subsequent implantation of human embryos.

Abstract

To determine whether the relatively low implantation rate of cryopreserved Day 2 embryos with only 2 blastomeres can be increased as a consequence of increasing their blastomere content by extending the prefreeze culture time. Of a total of 3480 Day 2 embryos studied, 1921 (55.2%) had reached the 4-cell stage by 40 h postinsemination (FAST) and were transferred or cryopreserved. The remaining embryos that underwent subsequent cell division by 46 h (INTERMEDIATE; 18.3% of total) or 66 h (SLOW; 20.3% of total) were also cryopreserved whereas the 6.2% that remained arrested at 66 h were discarded. Thawed embryos from each category were assessed for survival, post-thaw cleavage, and implantation. The proportion of thawed embryos that survived, the proportion of surviving embryos that underwent post-thaw cleavage, and the implantation rate of transferred embryos were all reduced in the slower growing cryopreserved embryos. The growth rate, and not the number of blastomeres per se, is a critical factor in predicting the developmental potential of cryopreserved embryos.