• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.148-152
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• 2011

Objective: Laser-assisted intracytoplasmic sperm injection (LA-ICSI), also known as micro-opening or thinning of the zona pellucida (ZP) prior to ICSI, may help to reduce mechanical damage to the oocyte during the procedure. The aim of the present study was to evaluate and analyze the efficacy of our institutional LA-ICSI program, which features laser-assisted ZP thinning prior to ICSI, in comparison with conventional ICSI (C-ICSI), performed on patients with different clinical characteristics. Methods: Patients undergoing a total of 212 ICSI cycles were randomly divided into an LA-ICSI group (106 cycles) and a conventional ICSI group (106 cycles). To reduce tissue damage, we thinned the ZP by approximately 70%, using a laser, before ICSI. Patients thus treated formed the LAICSI group. Comparisons included the morphological quality of transferred embryos, blastocyst development of the remaining embryos, and clinical pregnancy, in terms of ICSI method and patient characteristics. Results: Fertilization, development of remaining embryos, and pregnancy rate were significantly higher in the LA-ICSI group compared with the C-ICSI group. Fertilization, embryonic development, and the pregnancy rate were all improved in younger patients (<38 years of age) and in those who underwent a low number of IVF-ET attempts (<3 trials). In addition, the pregnancy rate was increased in older patients. Conclusion: LA-ICSI may be useful in improving the chance of pregnancy in all ICSI patients.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.143-148
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• 1995

To present and assess the efficacy of combination of microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration(MESA) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI) for the treatment of infertility due to unreconstructable obstructive azoospermia or congenital bilateral agenesis of vas deferens (CBAVD), MESA was performed in the 45 husbands ( 16 CBAVD, 29 unreconstructable genital tract obstruction), followed by ICSI of oocytes recovered from the wives hyperstimulated by GnRH agonist in combination with hMG and FSH. Cleaving embryos were transfered to the uterine cavity or follopian tube(ZIFT) 18 or 24 hours after ICSI procedure. In 45 cycles of MESA, 492 oocyte complexes were recovered. ICSI was carried out on 355 metaphase II oocytes and 226 oocytes (63.7%) showed normal two pronucleus fertilization. After 198 embryos were transferred in 43 cycles, an average of 5 per cycle, 20 patients presented a positive HCG and intrauterine pregnancy was confirmed by US. So, the clinical ongoing pregnancy rate per transfer was 46.5%. Until now, 8 patients have given birth to 9 babies, 5 male and 4 female, including 1 twin. The babies were all healthy except 1 twin female baby. There was 1 miscarriage at 7 weeks and chromosomal study of abortus revealed as 45X, monosomy. These results suggested that it was possible to achieve high normal fertilization and pregnancy rate by ICSI using epididymal sperm.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.293-300
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• 1997

The aim of present study was to determine the efficacy of immunotherapy with paternal lymphocytes for unexplained infertility. It has been apparent that reproductive success may be affected by the presence of abnormal autoantibodies. Unexplained infertility and repeated pregnancy wastage has been reported in the presence of abnormal autoantibodies. These data suffest that abnormal immune function may be an important pathologic entity contributing subfertility in patients with unexplained infertility. Therefore, immunotherapy may be a possible treatment modality for patients with unexplained infertility. Some investigators have reported that a proportion of infertile couples with repeatedly unsuccessful ET showed close histocompatibility similar to those of spontaneous recurrent abortion. Recently, it has been noted that immunotherapy with paternal lymphocytes achieves a high efficacy in preventing subsequent abortion in women with primary recurrent abortion of unknown cause, which was mediated by immune reaction including blocking antibody. To substantiate the hypothesis, we applied immunotherapy preceding Peritoneal Oocyte and Sperme transfer (POST) to 43 patients, 47 cycles of 82 patients, 89 cycles with at least three previous IUI failure from April, 1993 to February, 1995. There were no significant differences between treatment and control group in clinical response and hormonal response to controlled hyperstimulation. there was no significant difference between treatment and control group in pregnant rates per cycles (42.6% versus 28.6%), but a significantly lower abortion rate per pregnancy in treatment group, with 10.0% (2/20) compared with 50.03% (6/12) in control group. This study may suggest that immune therapy for patients with unexplained infertility with paternal lymphocytes might be beneficial.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2002

This study was carried out to investigate the optimal activation condition for parthenogenetic development. In order to activate oocytes at 24 hrs post onset of maturation, the oocytes were cultured $3{\sim}13{\mu}M\;Ca^{2+}$ for 5 min., $5-8{\mu}g/ml$ cytoclacin for 6 hrs, 0.5~2.0 mM 6-dimethylaminopurine(DMAP) for 3 hrs alone or combination. The activated oocytes were cultured in TCM-199 media at 5% $CO_2$, 95% air, $38^{\circ}C$. The cleavage rate after 48 hrs culture of oocytes treated with $3-13{\mu}M\;Ca^{2+}$, $5-8{\mu}g/ml$ cytoclacin and 0.5~2.0 mM DMAP for 5 min., 6 hrs and 3 hrs were 9.6%~20.0%, 0.0%~7.3% and 9.4%~21.8%, 0.0%~7.3% and 9.1%~21.8% and 0.0%~7.3%, respectively. When oocyte were treated with $10{\mu}M\;Ca^{2+}$, $10{\mu}g/ml$ cytoclacin and 2.0 mM DMAP the blastocyst formation rate was significantly higher than other group. The cleavage rate after 48 hrs culture of oocytes treated with $Ca^{2+}$ + cytoclacin, $Ca^{2+}$ + DMAP, cytoclacin + DMAP were 75.9%~93.5% and 9.7%~19.0%, respectively. When oocytes were treated with $Ca^{2+}$ followed by DMAP, the blastocyst formation rate was significantly higher than other group(p<0.05). When necleus transferred embryos co-cultured with bovine serum albumin(BSA), epithemal growth factor(EGF) and calf serum(CS), the developmental rate to blastocyst were higher than control group.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2021

Background: There are no guidelines for the optimal incubation time or temperature to improve pregnancy outcomes in testicular sperm extraction-intracytoplasmic sperm injection (TESE-ICSI) cycles. We aimed to evaluate whether a 24-hour in vitro culture of testicular spermatozoa affects pregnancy outcomes in TESE-ICSI cycles. Methods: This was a retrospective study of 83 TESE-ICSI cycles using testicular spermatozoa in 46 couples with male partners suffering from nonobstructive or obstructive azoospermia. Sperm retrieval was performed either on the oocyte retrieval (OR) day (65 cycles in 33 couples; group A) or on the day before OR (18 cycles in 13 couples; group B) followed by in vitro culture for 24 hours. The clinical characteristics and pregnancy outcomes, including the number of retrieved oocytes, fertilization rates, embryo transfer rates, implantation and clinical pregnancy rates, were compared between the two groups. Results: There were no differences in terms of clinical characteristics except for the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) in males. Group B had higher LH levels than group A (4.56±1.24 IU/L vs. 3.67±1.07 IU/L, p= 0.017). Group B showed higher fertilization rate (72.4%±32.1% vs. 59.2%±21.7%, p=0.045), implantation rate (35.0%±34.1% vs. 14.0%±21.5%, p=0.010), pregnancy rate per cycle (80% vs. 39%, p=0.033), and clinical pregnancy rate per cycle (80% vs. 37.5%, p=0.024) than those of group A. Conclusion: Testicular sperm retrieval performed on the day before OR followed by in vitro culture can potentially improve pregnancy outcomes.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.577-586
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• 2024

The in vitro maturation (IVM) rate of canine oocytes remains low compared to other mammals due to their unique reproductive characteristics. This study aimed to explore the effect of hormone supplementation during the IVM of canine immature oocytes on nuclear maturation and subsequently assess its potential application in canine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Immature oocytes were collected and cultured in an IVM medium supplemented with hormones (follicle-stimulating hormone [FSH] and progesterone [P4]) or without hormones (control) for 24 hours. The maturation rates of oocytes in the hormone-treated group (94.92 ± 3.15%) were significantly higher than those in the control group (61.01 ± 4.23%). Both in vitro and in vivo matured oocytes underwent NT to evaluate their utility, and the fusion rates were higher in the in vitro matured group than those in the vivo matured group, not significant between in vivo and in vitro matured group (73.28% and 82.35%, respectively). As a result, 14 fused embryos from the in vitro matured group were transferred into two surrogates, with one surrogate achieving a successful pregnancy and delivering four puppies. Whereas in the in vivo matured group, 85 fused embryos were transferred to 8 surrogate mothers, leading to three surrogates becoming pregnant and delivering one, four, and two puppies. The pregnancy rates were not significant between both groups (50% and 37.50%), but the number of offspring exhibited a significant difference (28.57% and 8.23%). In conclusion, we achieved a remarkable milestone by successfully producing cloned puppies using in vitro matured oocytes, underscoring the feasibility of canine cloning from in vitro recovered oocytes. It is important to note that this study focused only on immature oocytes after ovulation and only during the estrus stage. Further research targeting other stages of the estrous cycle could potentially enhance canine cloning efficiency.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.185-189
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to determine the possibility of in vitro maturation of tiger oocytes. Immature oocytes were recovered from a pair of ovaries. A total of 78 oocytes was collected, of which forty three were classified as good oocytes with compact cumulus cells and uniform cytoplasm. Forty three COCs were in vitro matured at $39^{\circ}C$, 5% CO2 in air atmosphere for 48 h in a IVM medium (TCM-199 supplement with 10% FBS, 0.6 mM cysteine, 0.2 mM pyruvic acid and 10 IU/mL HMG). Experiment I: the morphologic evaluation was conducted by measuring the diameter of oocytes with or without ZP, the thickness of ZP and the diameter of cytoplasm by microeyepiece at the same magnification (${\times}$100). Experiment II: the evaluation of meiotic development was conducted of the nuclear development stage of tiger oocytes. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The diameter of tiger oocytes $(176.5\pm6.1{\mu}m)$ with ZP was significantly (p<0.05) bigger than that of bovine oocytes $(150.7\pm4.9{\mu}m).$ The ZP thickness of tiger oocytes $(20.4\pm2.9{\mu}m)$ was significantly (p<0.05) bigger than that of bovine oocytes $(12.0\pm2.6{\mu}m;$ p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the diameter of cytoplasm (without ZP) between tiger $(122.1\pm9.7{\mu}m)$ and bovine oocytes $(118.7\pm7.5{\mu}m).$ 2. The rates of meiotic development of tiger oocytes were achieved GV (12.5 %) and MII (50.0%), respectively. These results indicated that tiger oocytes could be developed to MII in in vitro culture system.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2004

This study was carried out to examine the effects of maturation media on in vitro maturation (IVM) of porcine immature oocytes, and on subsequent in vitro fertilization (IVF) and development (IVD). Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were collected from antral follicles of porcine ovaries collected from abattoir, and were matured in vitro in modified NCSU-37 (mNCSU-37), modified NCSU-23 (mNCSU-23), or TCM-199 supplemented with 10% porcine follicular fluid (pFF). Oocytes matured in vitro, were fertilized in vitro in modified Tris-buffered medium(mTBM) with the final motile sperm concentration of 1${\times}$105 sperm/mL, and subsequently putative embryos were developed in vitro in NCSU-23. The results are as follows. 1. In the result of IVM, the rate of germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and of nuclear maturation were not significantly different among the media, though numeric value of them were slightly lower in TCM-199 than in mNCSU-37 or in mNCSU-23. 2. In the result of IVF, though the rate of sperm penetration was not significantly different among the maturation media, the percentage of oocytes with male pronucleus (MPN) of ones matured in mNCSU-37 (88.0%) was significantly higher than in TCM-199 (71.1%) (p<0.05). 3. In the result of IVD, the percentage of cleaved oocytes of ones matured in mNCSU-37 (52.3%) or in mNCSU-23 (53.7%) was significantly higher than in TCM-199 (43.1%) (p<0.05), but the rate of blastocysts at day 6 was not significantly different among the maturation media, though putative embryos from oocytes matured in mNCSU-37 or in mNCSU-23 were developed more than in TCM-199. These results suggested that mNCSU-37 or mNCSU-23 was more appropriate than TCM-199 as IVM medium for porcine immature oocytes.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.173-183
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• 2004

This study was carried out to examine the effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and the number of cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) on in vitro maturation (IVM) of porcine immature oocytes, and on subsequent in vitro fertilization (IVF) and development (IVD). COCs were collected from antral follicles of porcine ovaries collected from abattoir, and were maturated in modified NCSU-23 (mNCSU-23) with 10% pFF, 0.6 mM cysteine, 50 ${\mu}mM{\beta}-mercaptoethanol$, 1 mM dbcAMP, 10 IU/mL PMSG and 10 IU/mL hCG, which was supplemented with or without 10 ng/mL EGF and into which 50 or 15 COCs per droplet was put. Oocytes matured in vitro, were fertilized in vitro in modified Tris-buffered medium (mTBM) with the final motile sperm concentration of 1${\times}$105 sperm/mL, and subsequently putative embryos were developed in vitro in NCSU- 23. The results are as follows. 1.In the result of IVM, 10 ng/mL EGF supplement duplicated the percentage of C4 group of COCs(41% vs 81%). But the rate of germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and of nuclear maturation were not significantly different between control and EGF supplemented, or between the number of COCs per culture droplet, and there was not a significant interaction between the two factors, either. 2. In the result of IVF, there was not significantly different between control and EGF supplemented, or between the number of COCs per culture droplet, or was not a significant interaction between the two factors, in the rate of sperm penetration, in the percentage of oocytes with male pronucleus (MPN), and in the rate of polyspermy. 3. In the result of IVD, there was not significantly different between control and EGF supplemented, or between the number of COCs per culture droplet in the percentage of cleaved oocytes. There was not significantly different between the number of COCs per culture droplet, but between control and EGF supplemented (p<0.01) in the percentage of blastocysts, the number of inner cell mass (ICM), trophectoderm (TC) and total cells. There was no significant interaction between the two factors anywhere. These results suggested that 10 ng/mL EGF supplement into mNCSU-23 for IVM was effective in the production of more as well as better blastocysts during IVD through increasing the number of cells in those.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.265-273
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• 2004

This study was carried out to examine the effects of fertilization media and sperm concentration on in vitro fertilization (IVF) and development (IVD) of porcine oocytes matured in vitro. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were collected from antral follicles of porcine ovaries collected from abattoir, and were matured in vitro in modified NCSU-23 (mNCSU-23) supplemented with 10％ porcine follicular fluid (pFF). After the fertilization by experimental scheme, putative embryos were developed in vitro in NCSU-23. The results are as follows. When the oocytes were fertilized in vitro in modified TBM or modified TLP-PVA by 1 ${\times}$10$^{5}$ sperm/$m\ell$, all of the fertilization parameters were not significantly different between two media. Subsequently, as these putative embryos were developed in vitro in NCSU-23, the percentage of oocytes cleaved and of blastocysts were not different between two media, either. When the oocytes were fertilized in vitro in mTBM by 5${\times}$10$^4$, 1${\times}$10$^{5}$ or 5${\times}$10$^{5}$ sperm/$m\ell$, all of the fertilization parameters were significantly (P<0.05 or P<0.01) increased as sperm concentration was elevated. Subsequently, as these putative embryos were developed in vitro in NCSU-23, the percentage of oocytes cleaved and of blastocysts were significantly boosted (P<0.01) as sperm concentration at fertilization was elevated from 5${\times}$10$^4$ to 1${\times}$10$^{5}$ sperm/$m\ell$, but were not different between 1${\times}$10$^{5}$ and 5${\times}$10$^{5}$ sperm/$m\ell$.