Arizona Center for Fertility Studies was part of a multi-center study, published in Nature Proceedings; that, for one of the first times, documents that human embryos can “self-correct”. The study showed that human embryos demonstrate a significant rate of genetic correction of aneuploidy (chromosome abnormality), or “genetic normalization” when cultured from the cleavage stage on day 3 to the blastocyst stage on day 5 using routine in vitro fertilization (IVF) laboratory conditions. The study showed that if day 3 embryos that were biopsied came back abnormal but went on to develop to the blastocyst stage (day 5) and subsequently re-biopsied, 64% demonstrated “genetic normalization”. Recognizing that genetic normalization may occur in developing human embryos has important implications for stem cell biology, preimplantation and developmental genetics, embryology, and reproductive medicine. As a result of this data, Arizona Center for Fertility Studies decided to do all PGD/PGS biopsies on day 5.
Published in Nature Proceedings: hdl:10101/npre.2011.6045.1 : Posted 21 June 2011
