The temporal effects of changes in in vitro fertilization culture media on the one-cell mouse embryo system

Factors of the human embryo culture system that may affect media evaporation and osmolality

STUDY QUESTION

Which lab-related factors impact the culture system's capacity to maintain a stable osmolality during human embryo culture?

SUMMARY ANSWER

Incubator humidity, the volume of mineral oil, the type of culture media and the design of time-lapse dishes have been identified as important parameters that can cause an impact on media evaporation and consequently osmolality during culture.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY

Culture medium is a critical component in human embryo culture. Minimizing its evaporation during culture is an adequate strategy to stabilize osmolality and, as a result, improving culture conditions and clinical outcomes.

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION

The studied variables included media composition and supplementation; volume of mineral oil; incubator humidification; and the type of dish and incubator used. Additionally, six time-lapse dish models were compared in their ability to prevent evaporation.

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS

Dishes were incubated in parallel to analyze osmolality during culture between groups: synthetic oviductal medium enriched with potassium versus human tubal fluid medium; protein versus no protein supplementation; dry versus humid atmosphere; high versus low volume of mineral oil. Additionally, media evaporation was compared between six models of time-lapse dishes with distinct designs, cultured in a joint incubator. Two of them were retested in their corresponding incubator to analyze the dish-incubator fit. Daily osmolality measurements were compared between groups. Linear regression was performed to analyze evaporation rates.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE

Protein supplementation did not significantly affect evaporation. Contrarily, humidity levels inside the incubators, the volume of mineral oil and the type of culture media, played an important role in osmolality stabilization. The design of time-lapse dishes and their recommended preparation protocol heavily influenced their evaporation rates, which were further altered by each incubator's characteristics. Media with initially high osmolalities had a bigger risk of reaching hypertonic levels during culture.

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION

While numerous, the studied variables are limited and therefore other factors could play a role in osmolality dynamics, as well. Incontrollable atmospheric factors could also result in some variation in the observed results between different centers and laboratories.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS

Published literature has extensively described how hypertonic media may impair embryo development and negatively affect clinical outcomes; therefore, maintaining a stable osmolality during culture should be considered essential. This work is of interest both for embryologists when analyzing their culture system and methodologies, as well as manufacturers in charge of designing IVF consumables.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)

This study was privately funded.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

N/A.

Quality Management Issues in the Assisted Reproduction Laboratory

In the United States, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) of 1988 describes requirements and guidelines for implementing a quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) program for moderate and high complexity laboratories. These requirements and guidelines apply to Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) laboratories as well. The general topic of QC and QA as it pertains to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer (ET) is extensively reviewed. This review summarizes many of the QC and QA events that contribute to the advancement of knowledge in this biotechnological field. These events include control of the culture environment inside and outside of the incubator, as well as factors that affect culture media. This review also discusses, in considerable detail, the QC and the QA that pertain to equipment used within the laboratory and how to control for potential contaminants, which reside within the laboratory. This review provides evidence to indicate the need for laboratory personnel to monitor quality improvement issues on a continuous basis. Personnel must be willing to change as improvements in technology occur in order to meet the ever-evolving demands of a more difficult patient population. Suggestions for meeting these demands are offered.

Betaine is a highly effective organic osmolyte but does not appear to be transported by established organic osmolyte transporters in mouse embryos

Betaine protects early preimplantation mouse embryos against increased osmolarity in vitro, functioning as an organic osmolyte. Betaine is effective at very low external concentrations, with half-maximal protection of 1-cell embryo development to blastocysts at approximately 50 microM, making it one of the best osmoprotectants for mouse preimplantation embryos. We performed studies designed to determine whether known high-affinity organic osmolyte transporters could account for the ability of betaine to act as an organic osmolyte in preimplantation embryos. We found no evidence in 1-cell embryos of transport by a betaine/GABA transporter (BGT1), the osmoregulated betaine transporter found in a number of cell types, as betaine and GABA did not inhibit each other's transport. Instead, all saturable GABA transport in embryos was apparently via the beta-amino acid transporter. We also found that the glycine transporter, GLY, which mediates osmoprotective transport of glycine in early preimplantation embryos, does not appear to transport betaine. Finally, increased osmolarity did not induce any detectable System A amino acid transporter activity, which is osmotically-inducible in other cells and can transport betaine. There does appear, however, to be a saturable betaine transporter in 1-cell mouse embryos, as considerable 14C-betaine transport was measured which was substantially inhibited by excess unlabeled betaine. Our data imply that betaine functions as an organic osmolyte in embryos due to its saturable transport via a mechanism distinct from known osmolyte transporters. We propose that an unidentified high-affinity betaine transporter may be expressed in early embryos and mediate transport of betaine as an organic osmolyte.

Osmoregulation and cell volume regulation in the preimplantation embryo

The early preimplantation mammalian embryo possesses mechanisms that regulate intracellular osmolarity and cell volume. While transport of osmotically active inorganic ions might play a role in this process in embryos, the major mechanisms that have been identified and studied are those that employ organic osmolytes. Organic osmolytes provide a substantial portion of intracellular osmotic support in embryos and are required for their development under in vivo conditions. The main osmolytes that have been identified in cleavage stage embryos are accumulated via two transport systems of the neurotransmitter transporter family active in early preimplantation embryos--the glycine transport system (GLY) and the beta-amino acid transport system (system beta). While system beta has been established to have a similar role in many other cells, this is a novel function for the GLY transport system. The intracellular concentration of organic osmolytes such as glycine in early preimplantation embryos is regulated by tonicity, allowing the embryo to regulate its volume against shrinkage and to control its internal osmolarity. In addition, the cells of the embryo can regulate against an increase in volume via controlled release of osmolytes from the cytoplasm. This is mediated by a swelling-activated anion channel that is also highly permeable to a range of organic osmolytes, and which closely resembles similar channels found in many other cell types (VSOAC channels). Together, these mechanisms appear to regulate cell volume in the egg through the early cleavage stages of embryogenesis, after which there are indications that the mechanisms of osmoregulation change.

Estimates of mouse oviductal fluid tonicity based on osmotic responses of embryos

Zygotes and early cleavage-stage embryos are very sensitive to increased osmolality in vitro, although the tonicity of their in vivo environment, oviductal fluid, is unknown. A preference for low osmolality in vitro might imply similar conditions in vivo or be specific to culture. Previous electron probe x-ray microanalysis measurements of total ion content predicted oviductal fluid osmolalities of 310-360 mOs/kg, higher than osmolalities tolerated by mouse zygotes in vitro. However, such indirect estimates may not reflect the tonicity experienced by embryos. We have now used embryos themselves as osmosensors to determine the tonicity of mouse oviductal fluid. In one method, we measured the mean volume of zygotes in undiluted oviductal fluid and compared this to the mean volumes measured for zygotes in media spanning a range of osmolalities. The osmolality corresponding to the measured mean volume in oviductal fluid was taken to be isotonic. In another, independent method, the sizes of zygotes and two-cell embryos were measured as a function of time beginning immediately after removal from oviducts. The osmolality in which the embryos neither swelled nor shrank was taken to be isotonic. Both methods yielded approximately the same range for the tonicity of oviductal fluid: around 290-300 mOs/kg.

Volume-regulated anion and organic osmolyte channels in mouse zygotes

Whole-cell currents in mouse zygotes were measured using the patch-clamp technique in whole-cell mode. Upon exposure to hypotonic medium, patch-clamped zygotes increased in volume and developed a large swelling-activated current. The swelling-activated current was blocked by Cl- channel blockers, and the magnitude of the current and reversal potential were dependent on the Cl- gradient. Thus, the swelling-activated current had the properties of a current mediated by anion channels. However, in addition to being permeable to Cl- and I- (with I- having the greater permeability), there was also a significant swelling-activated conductance to aspartate and taurine, indicating that the swelling-activated channels in zygotes conduct not only inorganic anions but organic osmolytes as well. This swelling-activated anion and organic osmolyte pathway likely underlies the ability of zygotes to recover from an increase in volume, and it may function to regulate intracellular amino acid concentrations.

Osmolarity-dependent glycine accumulation indicates a role for glycine as an organic osmolyte in early preimplantation mouse embryos

Mouse zygotes and early cleavage-stage embryos are sensitive to increased osmolarity. However, development can occur at higher osmolarities if any of a number of organic compounds are present. One of the most effective of these is glycine. We have found that the amount of glycine accumulated by embryos during in vitro culture from the zygote to two-cell stage depends on the osmolarity of the medium, with significantly more glycine accumulated at 310 or 340 mOsM than at 250 mOsM. The accumulated glycine is largely retained in a freely diffusible form, as it can be released via a swelling-activated pathway in two-cell embryos. Increased glycine accumulation does not seem to depend on an increase in its rate of transport. The transport rate is not higher in two-cell embryos that have been cultured from zygotes in hypertonic vs. normal medium, and hypertonicity only slightly stimulates transport in zygotes. Our results indicate that glycine functions as an organic osmolyte in early mouse embryos.

Cell volume regulation by the mouse zygote: mechanism of recovery from a volume increase

Mouse zygotes regulate their volumes after cell swelling. This regulatory volume decrease (RVD) is rapid and complete. RVD in zygotes was inhibited by K+ or Cl- channel blockers, indicating the participation of such channels in volume recovery. The channels are separate entities, as indicated by the ability of the cation ionophore gramicidin to restore RVD when K+ channels are blocked but not when Cl- channels are blocked. Intracellular Ca2+ concentration increased with cell swelling. Nevertheless, RVD occurred normally in zygotes loaded with the Ca2+ chelator, 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid, which prevented Ca2+ from increasing above its normal resting concentration. Thus an increase in intracellular Ca2+ is not necessary for zygote RVD; consistent with this, inhibitors of Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels had little or no effect on RVD. RVD in zygotes was also completely inhibited by millimolar amounts of extracellular ATP. ATP has been shown to inhibit current passed by the volume-sensitive organic osmolyte-Cl- channel in other cells, and thus zygotes may have such a channel participating in RVD.

Platelet-activating factor production from in vitro and in vivo fertilized murine embryos is similar

PROBLEM

This study measured platelet-activating factor (PAF) production of in vitro and in vivo fertilized murine embryos to ascertain whether site of fertilization impacted subsequent embryonic PAF production.

METHOD

Oocytes and embryo were collected from stimulated B6D2F1 mice. PAF production throughout the preimplantation phase from the two-celled stage through expanded blastocysts was measured and compared among normally developing embryos with the only difference being site of fertilization.

RESULTS

A striking increase in PAF production was noted for both in vivo and in vitro fertilized embryos over the four days of culture. Significantly higher (P < .001) levels of PAF production were noted with development from the two-celled stage (47.22 +/- 4.13; 44.30 +/- 2.43) to expanded blastocysts (254.31 +/- 24.01; 255.11 +/- 5.35 ng/embryo/24 h) for both in vitro and in vivo fertilized embryos, respectively. There was no significant difference (P > .05) in PAF production between the two groups of embryos.

CONCLUSIONS

Embryonic PAF production in the mouse increases in a stage-specific manner, and specifically the site of fertilization in vitro versus in vivo does not affect PAF production in normally developing embryos.