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Yang L, Leynes C, Pawelka A, Lorenzo I, Chou A, Lee B, Heaney JD. Machine learning in time-lapse imaging to differentiate embryos from young vs old mice†. Biol Reprod 2024; 110:1115-1124. [PMID: 38685607 PMCID: PMC11180621 DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioae056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Time-lapse microscopy for embryos is a non-invasive technology used to characterize early embryo development. This study employs time-lapse microscopy and machine learning to elucidate changes in embryonic growth kinetics with maternal aging. We analyzed morphokinetic parameters of embryos from young and aged C57BL6/NJ mice via continuous imaging. Our findings show that aged embryos accelerated through cleavage stages (from 5-cells) to morula compared to younger counterparts, with no significant differences observed in later stages of blastulation. Unsupervised machine learning identified two distinct clusters comprising of embryos from aged or young donors. Moreover, in supervised learning, the extreme gradient boosting algorithm successfully predicted the age-related phenotype with 0.78 accuracy, 0.81 precision, and 0.83 recall following hyperparameter tuning. These results highlight two main scientific insights: maternal aging affects embryonic development pace, and artificial intelligence can differentiate between embryos from aged and young maternal mice by a non-invasive approach. Thus, machine learning can be used to identify morphokinetics phenotypes for further studies. This study has potential for future applications in selecting human embryos for embryo transfer, without or in complement with preimplantation genetic testing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liubin Yang
- Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
- Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Division of Reproductive Sciences, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Carolina Leynes
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Ashley Pawelka
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Isabel Lorenzo
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Andrew Chou
- Pain Research, Informatics, Multi-morbidities, and Education (PRIME) Center, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Brendan Lee
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Jason D Heaney
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
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Serbetci I, González-Grajales LA, Herrera C, Ibanescu I, Tekin M, Melean M, Magata F, Malama E, Bollwein H, Scarlet D. Impact of negative energy balance and postpartum diseases during the transition period on oocyte quality and embryonic development in dairy cows. Front Vet Sci 2024; 10:1328700. [PMID: 38249554 PMCID: PMC10797029 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1328700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Transition period is a critical time for dairy cows because a large proportion of clinical and subclinical diseases are observed in the first month after parturition. Occurrence of negative energy balance is associated with depressed immunity and these conditions can affect oocyte quality and further embryonic development. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of negative energy balance-associated disorders on in vitro embryo production (IVP) in dairy cattle. We hypothesized that subclinical metabolic and/or inflammatory disorders have a negative effect on oocyte developmental competence and morphokinetic parameters of the resulting embryos. The study was conducted on 30 lactating Holstein-Friesian cows which were assigned into four groups: healthy (HEAL, n = 6), metabolic disease (META, n = 8), inflammatory disease (INFL, n = 8), or combined metabolic and inflammatory disease (COMB, n = 8). Ovum pick-up (OPU) was performed twice weekly on all cows over a period of four weeks (n = 8 OPU sessions/cow) starting on the fifth week postpartum, and the collected oocytes were subjected to routine IVP. Donor's health status did not affect the number of oocytes/OPU or the recovery rate (p > 0.05). The number of quality 1 oocytes collected from INFL and COMB cows was lower compared to HEAL cows (p < 0.05). Also, the percentage of quality 1 embryos was reduced in META and COMB compared to HEAL cows (p < 0.05). Cleavage, blastocyst and hatching rates were similar among groups (p > 0.05). Presence of disease did not affect the time required by zygotes to reach specific developmental stages, as recorded by means of time-lapse monitoring. Nevertheless, there was a higher probability of direct cleavage after IVF in oocytes of COMB cows compared to those of HEAL cows (p < 0.05). In conclusion, oocytes and embryos derived from dairy cows diagnosed with subclinical metabolic and/or inflammatory diseases during the transition period showed reduced quality but similar developmental potential and morphokinetics when compared to healthy cows. These results shed light on the consequences of subclinical disease on embryonic development in dairy cows which might be important for embryo transfer programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Idil Serbetci
- Clinic of Reproductive Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | - Carolina Herrera
- Clinic of Reproductive Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Iulian Ibanescu
- Clinic of Reproductive Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Muhittin Tekin
- Clinic of Reproductive Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Manuel Melean
- Clinic of Reproductive Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Fumie Magata
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Eleni Malama
- Clinic of Reproductive Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Heinrich Bollwein
- Clinic of Reproductive Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Dragos Scarlet
- Clinic of Reproductive Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Institute of Veterinary Anatomy, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Zhu J, Wang C, Cao Z, Luan K, Wu Y, Yin H. Developmental competence and neonatal outcomes of nonpronuclear zygotes following single vitrified-warmed blastocyst transfers using propensity score matching analysis. Arch Gynecol Obstet 2024; 309:295-304. [PMID: 37787836 DOI: 10.1007/s00404-023-07235-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE To investigate developmental competence and neonatal outcomes of nonpronuclear (0PN) zygotes following single vitrified-warmed blastocyst transfers (VBT). METHODS The clinical, laboratorial and neonatal data of 996 patients with ≤ 38 years who underwent blastocyst culture and single VBT were retrospectively analyzed. The pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of VBT were compared between 0PN and 2PN blastocysts using propensity score matching (PSM). Moreover, Day 3 (D3) embryo development and blastocyst formation were compared between 0PN and 2PN zygotes. RESULTS There were no significant differences in clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), live birth rate (LBR) and neonatal outcomes of VBT between the 0PN and 2PN blastocysts irrespectively of whether PSM was used. However, early abortion rate (EAR) was higher in blastocysts from 0PN D3 embryos > 10 cells (p < 0.05) before PSM. Moreover, the early developmental competence of 0PN zygotes was different from that of 2PN zygotes presenting higher percentages of D3 embryos ≤ 6 cells (p < 0.01) and > 10 cells (p < 0.01), lower available blastocyst formation rate (ABFR) (p < 0.01) and good-quality blastocyst formation rate (GBFR) (p < 0.01) in D3 embryos with 4-6 cells. ABFR and GBFR increased with cell number when compared among embryos with 4-6 cells, 7-10 cells and > 10 cells, irrespectively of 0PN or 2PN embryos. CONCLUSION The early developmental competence of 0PN zygotes was different from that of 2PN zygotes, but did not influence pregnancy and neonatal outcomes following VBT. ABFR and GBFR increased with cell number, irrespectively of 0PN or 2PN embryos.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Zhu
- Reproductive Medicine Center, the 901st Hospital of the Joint Logistics Support Force of PLA, 424 West Changjiang Road, Hefei, 230031, China
| | - Cunli Wang
- Reproductive Medicine Center, the 901st Hospital of the Joint Logistics Support Force of PLA, 424 West Changjiang Road, Hefei, 230031, China
| | - Zhenyi Cao
- Reproductive Medicine Center, the 901st Hospital of the Joint Logistics Support Force of PLA, 424 West Changjiang Road, Hefei, 230031, China
| | - Kang Luan
- Reproductive Medicine Center, the 901st Hospital of the Joint Logistics Support Force of PLA, 424 West Changjiang Road, Hefei, 230031, China
| | - Yan Wu
- Reproductive Medicine Center, the 901st Hospital of the Joint Logistics Support Force of PLA, 424 West Changjiang Road, Hefei, 230031, China
| | - Huiqun Yin
- Reproductive Medicine Center, the 901st Hospital of the Joint Logistics Support Force of PLA, 424 West Changjiang Road, Hefei, 230031, China.
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