A prospective study to evaluate the gender prediction of blastocysts by using cell-free DNA within a culture medium

Background: Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been used as an option for couples with the possibility of having a baby with a genetic disorder. The common method for performing this test involves isolating one cell from day ۳ or a few cells from day ۵ embryos and performing genetic studies on the cell-extracted DNA. This method is invasive and can cause abortion after implantation in the uterus. Because of this, ۲ noninvasive methods for performing a PGD have been studied :PGD using blastocyst fluid and PGD using embryo culture medium. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the sensitivity of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to detect Y chromosome using cell-free DNA within culture medium for gender prediction of blastocysts. Materials and Methods: In this study, the gender of ۳۰ embryos on day ۵ was determined using embryonic DNA extraction from the culture medium, and the PCR technique to evaluate genes sex-determining Region Y and fragile X mental retardation. Then, their accuracy was assessed using ultrasound. Results: The results of the PCR technique showed that ۷ embryos were male, but an ultrasound revealed that ۱۳ were male. Conclusion: The given results indicated that because of the low amount of DNA extracted from the culture medium, the diagnosis of the existence of the Y chromosome by this method is still not accurate enough for detecting the gender of the embryo.

Keywords:

Preimplantation diagnosis , Embryo implantation , Culture media , Blastocyst , Polymerase chain reaction.