The results of the recent study that Εmbryolab performed were announced at ESHRE Annual Meeting, and presented by Mrs. Marianna Papadopoulou BSc, Clinical Embryologist, accredited by ESHRE, regarding specific developmental irregularities and how these can affect the embryo or the outcome of IVF. Our findings can be used as an advanced embryo selection tool.

In more details, when the egg is fertilized, the first cell called zygote starts dividing. Each cell division is expected to result in two daughter cells, identical to the parental cell. In some cases, unexpectedly, more than one nucleus can be observed in the daughter cells and this morphological irregularity is called multinucleation. Multinucleated blastomeres in human IVF embryos is not a recent finding, but embryologist could only observe them by chance when embryos were cultured in standard incubators. Multinucleation became a constant finding only after the perpetually evolving technology of time-lapse culture of embryos, which has made the observation very detailed.

Having this innovative equipment in our lab, we were able to complete our study about multinucleation in human embryos and how this can be related to the embryo’s chromosomal constitution or the clinical outcomes. According to our results, multinucleation during embryo development does not affect pregnancy and delivery rates. However, our study suggests that within a sibling embryo population, embryos from the same IVF cycle, non-multinucleated embryos tend to be euploid. In conclusion, assessment of multinucleation during embryo development can help embryologist prioritize embryos for embryotransfer.