Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Identification of embryos that are most likely to implant is a key step in in vitro fertilization (IVF) and currently relies largely on embryo morphology and cleavage rate. In this study, we assessed whether a viability score generated by biospectroscopy-based metabolomic profiling of spent embryo culture media correlates with implantation potential of individual embryos in women undergoing single embryo transfer (SET) on day 5. DESIGN: A prospective multi-center, multi-national study was conducted in 4 IVF centers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 72 spent embryo culture media samples were collected following single embryo transfer (SET) on day 5 at Shady Grove Fertility Centre, Rockville, MD; Fertilitetscentrum, Gothenburg, Sweden; Reproductive Sciences Center, Lexington, MA; and Sydney IVF, Sydney, Australia. Samples were analyzed by near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy using a wavelength-specific genetic algorithm, and a relative embryo viability score was generated for each sample. All measurements were performed at Molecular Biometrics Inc. by observers blinded to the knowledge of embryo morphology or IVF outcome. Pregnancy was defined as fetal cardiac activity (FCA) at 12 weeks of gestation. RESULTS: Viability scores of embryos that resulted in pregnancy (FCA+) were significantly higher compared to embryos that failed to implant (FCA–) (mean±SD; 0.537±0.148 vs. 0.459±0.139; p<0.05). A positive correlation was observed between increasing viability scores and the reproductive potential of individual embryos (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.18; p<0.05). There was no correlation between viability scores and embryo morphology or type of culture media used. CONCLUSIONS: Viability scores determined by metabolomic profiling of day 5 spent embryo culture media correlate with outcome in women undergoing IVF and constitute a parameter independent of morphology for non-invasive assessment of embryo viability.

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