Does polycystic ovary syndrome affect morphokinetics or abnormalities in early embryonic development?

Abstract

Does polycystic ovary syndrome affect morphokinetics or abnormalities in early embryonic development?$ Minh Tam Lea,b,*, Trung Van Nguyenb, Tung Thanh Nguyenc, Thai Thanh Thi Nguyenb, Tam An Thi Nguyenb, Quoc Huy Vu Nguyena, Ngoc Thanh Caoa,b a Department of OBGYN, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University, 06 Ngo Quyen Street, Hue, Viet Nam b Center for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University, 06 Ngo Quyen Street, Hue, Viet Nam c Department of Histology and Embryology, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University, 06 Ngo Quyen Street, Hue, Viet Nam A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 1 January 2019 Received in revised form 1 May 2019 Accepted 10 May 2019 Available online 17 May 2019 Keywords: PCOS Time-lapse monitoring Morphokinetics Embryo cleavage Early development A B S T R A C T Objectives: This study aimed to investigate whether oocyte retrieval from PCOS patients affects the morphokinetics or the incidence of abnormalities in early embryonic development, using time-lapse imaging analysis. Methods: This was a prospective study in total of 39 PCOS patients and 67 women with normal ovarian function, underwent a GnRH antagonist protocol of controlled ovarian stimulation and fertilization by ICSI. 402 zygotes from the PCOS group and 449 zygotes from the control group were observed by timelapse monitoring for 48 h following sperm injection. Results: Patients with PCOS showed a significantly higher number of retrieved oocytes, and a significantly higher number of metaphase II oocytes per cycle than that of the non-PCOS group (18.85

9.41 vs. 11.48

5.51 and 14.97

7.43 vs. 9.51

4.7, respectively). However, oocyte maturation rate and morphologically assessed embryo quality did not differ between two groups. After 48 h of the embryo culture using time-lapse video recording, most of the embryos in both groups had reached the 4-cell stage (353/449 vs. 314/402 embryos). There were no significant differences between the control and PCOS group regarding the time-points of the successive events in early embryonic development from the appearance of 2 polar bodies to the 6-cell stage. However, the percentage of t2 stages which fell in “optimal range” (>24 h and 28 h) was significantly lower in the PCOS group than in the control group (37.8% vs. 48.1%, P = 0.004). The proportion of embryos manifesting abnormal fertility, multinucleation, direct cleavage and reverse cleavage were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: Our data indicated that PCOS does not affect the morphokinetics or incidence of abnormalities in early embryonic development.