Arrested Cells/Cellular Debris Expelled from Blastocysts Is Self-Correction Phenomenon During Early Embryonic Development

Reprod Sci. 2023 Jul;30(7):2177-2187. doi: 10.1007/s43032-022-01159-8. Epub 2023 Jan 10.

Abstract

Arrested cells/ cellular debris is component left in the zona pellucida after blastocyst hatching. To identify whether expelling arrested cells/cellular debris from blastocysts is a process of human embryo self-correction by eliminating abnormal cells, 21 pairs of trophectoderm (TE) biopsies and the corresponding arrested cells/cellular debris expelled from the blastocysts from July to December 2020 were collected and analyzed using next-generation sequencing (NGS). Then, the NGS results of TE biopsies and the corresponding arrested cells/cellular debris were compared. We identified that 47.6% of blastocysts (10/21) were aneuploidies and mosaicism. A total of 18 groups of arrested cells/cellular debris (85.7%) expelled from blastocysts were abnormal, including nine aneuploid embryos and nine euploid embryos. In the arrested cells/cellular debris, all the chromosomes were affected. In conclusion, mosaicism and aneuploidies are common features of early embryonic development, and the arrested cells/cellular debris expelled from blastocysts provides evidence of early embryonic self-correction.

Keywords: Aneuploidy; Arrested cells/cellular debris; Embryonic self-correction; Mosaicism; Trophectoderm biopsy.

MeSH terms

  • Aneuploidy
  • Blastocyst / pathology
  • Embryonic Development
  • Female
  • Genetic Testing / methods
  • Humans
  • Mosaicism
  • Pregnancy
  • Preimplantation Diagnosis* / methods