Silvia Azaña, embryologist at inviTRA, tells us in this video what embryo culture is like in the IVF laboratory:
There are variations in the characteristics of embryo culture among different clinics and even among patients. However, they always agree that the conditions for embryo culture must be perfectly regulated as any alteration can affect embryionic development and compromise the chances of success in fertility treatment.
Regarding the types of embryo culture, depending on the duration of the culture, it is distinguished between:
Short culture. Generally up to day three of embryionic development.
Long culture. Up to the blast stage. The same culture medium can be used throughout development (single medium) or several different ones can be used (sequential culture).
Whether one type of culture or another is performed depends on several factors such as the number of eggs obtained, the quality of the embryos on day three, or the need to perform a pre-implantation genetic test.
Regarding the necessary conditions, the eggs and embryos must be in as stable an environment as possible. To achieve this, they are kept inside incubators for most of the time as this prevents the culture conditions from being altered. Aspects such as:
Temperature.
Concentration of carbon dioxide and oxygen.
And humidity.In addition, it is also necessary for assisted reproduction laboratories to have very controlled conditions. Some of the factors that are regulated are:
Air purity (with very few suspended particles).
Light.
Temperature.
And the gases present and in what percentage.Embryos develop in plates with culture media that provide the necessary nutrients for them to evolve correctly. As we have discussed, their needs vary at different stages and therefore depending on their composition, we distinguish:
Sequential media. Contain the specific nutrients that embryos need at certain stages of their development. There is usually one medium for the first few days of embryionic development and another to use starting from the third day.
Single media. Contain all the nutrients that the embryo needs from day one of development until the blastoyst stage. Thus the embryo will consume what it needs at each moment.
