COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT: GROUP CULTURE VS. SINGLE EMBRYO CULTURE IN ICSI CYCLE

Abstract

Abstract

Background: Many medical methods treat infertility under the name "Assisted Reproductive Technology" (ART). For infertile couples, ART improves their chances of conceiving. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, along with its associated procedures like embryo culture and embryo transfer, are the most common ART techniques.

Objective: To compare the development rates and morphological quality of embryos in group culture versus single embryo culture during the ICSI cycle, plus to evaluation of β -HCG marker in both groups.

Methods: This study include 40 infertile couples undergoing ICSI at the Iraqi British IVF Centre in Baghdad. November 2023-March 2024. After microinjection, MII oocytes were separated into two groups and placed in culture media. Single and group cultural systems were designed with distinct drop patterns. β -hCG level have been also measured as marker of embryo quality after culturing in both group and individual culture systems.

Results: Group cultures showed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher total fertilization rates, grade I embryos and total numbers of freezing embryos than individual culture system. The β -hCG levels in group cultures embryos were also significantly (p < 0.001) higher than single culture system in this study.

Conclusion: It is concluded that group cultured embryos significantly healthier than single cultured embryos. Group culture system provide a supportive environment through collective secretion of autocrine and paracrine factors that promote embryo development. The β-hCG levels in group culture embryos were found to be significantly higher than those in the single culture system.