Percent segregation and number of embryos (in parenthesis) obtained from reciprocal translocation carriers classified based on presence of chromosomes with terminal breakpoints or acrocenteric chromosomes^a.

a<p>Abbreviations used: ACR = acrocentric chromosome(s) involved; NonACR = no acrocentric chromosome(s) involved; TER = chromosome(s) with terminal breakpoint(s) involved; NonTER = no chromosome(s) with terminal breakpoint(s) involved; N/B = embryos consistent with normal or balanced chromosome complement; NS = embryos without any known segregation type; N/A = not applicable.</p>b<p>Total number of embryos.</p

Chromosome Segregation Analysis in Human Embryos Obtained from Couples Involving Male Carriers of Reciprocal or Robertsonian Translocation

<div><p>The objective of this study was to investigate the frequency and type of chromosome segregation patterns in cleavage stage embryos obtained from male carriers of Robertsonian (ROB) and reciprocal (REC) translocations undergoing preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) at our reproductive center. We used FISH to analyze chromosome segregation in 308 day 3 cleavage stage embryos obtained from 26 patients. The percentage of embryos consistent with normal or balanced segregation (55.1% vs. 27.1%) and clinical pregnancy (62.5% vs. 19.2%) rates were higher in ROB than the REC translocation carriers. Involvement of non-acrocentric chromosome(s) or terminal breakpoint(s) in reciprocal translocations was associated with an increase in the percent of embryos consistent with adjacent 1 but with a decrease in 3∶1 segregation. Similar results were obtained in the analysis of nontransferred embryos donated for research. 3∶1 segregation was the most frequent segregation type in both day 3 (31%) and spare (35%) embryos obtained from carriers of t(11;22)(q23;q11), the only non-random REC with the same breakpoint reported in a large number of unrelated families mainly identified by the birth of a child with derivative chromosome 22. These results suggest that chromosome segregation patterns in day 3 and nontransferred embryos obtained from male translocation carriers vary with the type of translocation and involvement of acrocentric chromosome(s) or terminal breakpoint(s). These results should be helpful in estimating reproductive success in translocation carriers undergoing PGD.</p> </div

Karyotype and reproductive history of the male translocation carriers.

a<p>Age of patient at the time of embryo biopsy averaged over the number of PGD cycles the couple undergone.</p>b<p>OS = oligospermia, AST = asthenospermia, TRT = teratozoospermia, TOP = termination of pregnancy.</p>c<p>This couple used donor eggs from 32 and 27 year old women in the two PGD cycles.</p

Chromosome segregation in day 3 cleavage stage and spare embryos obtained from male translocation carriers^a.

<p>^aREC = reciprocal translocation; ROB = Robersonian translocation, N/B = chromosomally normal or balanced for the translocated chromosomes, Adj1 = adjacent 1, Adj2 = adjacent 2, NS = no known segregation pattern detected, Poly = polyploid. An asterisk (*) denotes statistically significant differences (<i>P</i><0.05). The column labeled with “3∶1” represents frequency of 3∶0 segregants in ROB and 3∶1 in REC. Normal/balanced spare embryos in ROB and REC carriers were not compared.</p

Clinical details of patients participated in this study categorized by the type of translocation^a.

a<p>Abbreviations used: REC = reciprocal translocation, ROB = Robertsonian translocation, an asterisk (*) indicates statistical difference at <i>P</i><0.05 level.</p

Mild COVID-19 Was Not Associated with Impaired IVF Outcomes or Early Pregnancy Loss in IVF Patients

Data collection regarding the effects of COVID-19 on reproduction is ongoing. This study examined the effect of COVID-19 on IVF cycle parameters and early pregnancy outcomes. It included two arms: the first compared non-exposed cycles to post-SARS-CoV-2 IVF cycles. Sperm parameters were also compared. The second, prospective arm compared pregnancy outcomes among IVF patients who contracted COVID-19 during early pregnancy to those who did not. None of the patients were vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. The first arm included 60 treatment cycles of women with confirmed COVID-19, compared to 60 non-exposed cycles (either the same patient before exposure or matched non-exposed patients). The outcomes of the treatment cycles did not differ significantly between exposed and non-exposed groups, including number of oocytes, endometrial thickness, fertilization rate and number of top-quality embryos. In 11 cycles, the male partner had also recently recovered: sperm concentration was lower post-exposure: 6.27 million/mL vs. 16.5 pre-exposure (p = 0.008). In 189 patients with IVF-achieved pregnancies, pregnancy loss and hospital admissions did not differ between exposed and non-exposed groups. IVF treatment outcomes and the rate of early pregnancy loss appears to be unaffected by SARS-CoV-2 disease, despite a minor decline in sperm concentration among recent recoverees