Timing of ICSI with Respect to Meiotic Spindle Status

Olga Tepla; Zinovij Topurko; Simona Jirsova; Martina Moosova; Eva Fajmonova; Radek Cabela; Katerina Komrskova; Irena Kratochvilova; Jaromir Masata

doi:10.3390/ijms24010105

Timing of ICSI with Respect to Meiotic Spindle Status

Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Dec 21;24(1):105. doi: 10.3390/ijms24010105.

Authors

Olga Tepla¹, Zinovij Topurko¹, Simona Jirsova¹, Martina Moosova¹, Eva Fajmonova¹, Radek Cabela¹, Katerina Komrskova^{2

3}, Irena Kratochvilova⁴, Jaromir Masata¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital in Prague, Apolinarska 18, 128 08 Prague, Czech Republic.
² Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, BIOCEV, Prumyslova 595, 252 50 Vestec, Czech Republic.
³ Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Vinicna 7, 128 44 Prague, Czech Republic.
⁴ Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of using meiotic spindle (MS) visibility and relative position to the polar body (PB) as indicators of oocyte maturation in order to optimize intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) timing. This was a cohort study of patients younger than 40 years with planned ICSI, the timing of which was determined by MS status, compared with those without MS evaluation. The angle between PB and MS and MS visibility were evaluated by optical microscope with polarizing filter. Oocytes with MS evaluation were fertilized according to MS status either 5-6 h after ovum pick-up (OPU) or 7-8 h after OPU. Oocytes without MS evaluation were all fertilized 5-6 h after OPU. For patients over 35 years visualization of MS influenced pregnancy rate (PR): 182 patients with MS visualization had 32% PR (58/182); while 195 patients without MS visualization had 24% PR (47/195). For patients under 35 years, visualization of MS did not influence PR: 140 patients with MS visualization had 41% PR (58/140), while 162 patients without MS visualization had 41% PR (66/162). Visualization of MS therefore appears to be a useful parameter for assessment of oocyte maturity and ICSI timing for patients older than 35.

Keywords: ICSI; gravidity; human oocyte; in vitro fertilization; meiotic spindle; polar body; polarized light microscopy.

MeSH terms

Cohort Studies
Female
Humans
Male
Oocytes
Pregnancy
Semen*
Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic* / methods
Spindle Apparatus

Grants and funding

This work was supported the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic No. GA-22-30494S; by the Institute of Biotechnology RVO: 86652036; by the project BIOCEV (CZ.1.05/1.1.00/02.0109); by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic MH CZ-DRO-VFN 64165 of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital in Prague; and by Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital in Prague internal support of the project Imaging of the meiotic spindle in assisted reproduction procedures, the status of the meiotic spindle was not determined before ICSI.