Background: The biochemical characteristics of the follicular fluid (FF) play essential role in oocyte quality, the subsequent fertilization potential and Embryo development.The oocyte quality and metabolism largely depends on follicular microenvironment. Present study aimed to investigate the relationship between oocyte quality and FF homocysteine (Hcy) level in women undergoing to IVF treatment.Materials and Methods: Following standard long protocol, 52 infertile women were selected for IVF process.FF sample was obtained from a single follicle in each patient. FF Hcy, glucose and estradiol (E2) levels were evaluated at time of oocyte retrieval. Moreover the oocyte and Embryo qualities were estimated. Three Embryos were transferred to each patient approximately 48hsafter insemination and finally scored based on the shape, number and fragmentation of blastomers.Results: Observations demonstrated that, there was a negative correlation between FF Hcylevel with oocyte quality.Accordingly patients with increased Hcy revealed with poor oocyte, low fertilization rate and with low Embryo quality as well.Conclusion: Our results indicated that in the case of increased FF Hcy, the fertilizing rate and the Embryo quality reduces. Thus the FF Hcy can be considering as a prognostic marker for IVF outcome.

Background: Embryo quality may affect birth weight among neonates born through assisted reproductive technology. There are very limited studies assessing the adverse effect of transferring a poor-quality Embryo with a good-quality one on neonatal outcomes. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of double Embryo transfer (DET) with one good-quality Embryo (GQE) plus a poor-quality one on the birth weight of newborns conceived by in vitro fertilization in both fresh and frozen-thawed Embryo transfer cycles. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at Yazd Reproductive Sciences Institute, Yazd, Iran. A total of 626 women were classified into three groups according to the Embryo quality: single Embryo transfer with a GQE (group A); DET using two GQEs (group B); and DET using one good-quality and one poor-quality Embryo (group C). The primary outcome was singleton birth weight which was compared between the three groups among fresh and frozen-Embryo transfer cycles. A comparative analysis was also performed regarding the effect of vitrification procedures on neonatal birth weight within each of the three Embryo quality-based groups. Results: The mean birth weight and the rate of preterm birth were similar between the three groups (p = 0. 45 and 0. 32, respectively). There were also no significant differences found in the vitrification comparative analysis between and within the groups with regard to birth weight. Conclusion: Our results showed that a poor-quality Embryo did not have a significant influence on a good-quality one regarding neonatal birth weight when transferred together.

Spermatozoa are highly specializedcells with the purpose of not onlydelivering competent paternal DNA to the oocyte but also to provide a robust epigenetic contribution to Embryogenesis. The identification of sperm fertility markers and the ability to selecthealthy spermatozoa for ART have a dual objective of choosing the best treatment strategy and optimizing ART outcomes. Currently, sperm indexes determination in the clinical setting is generally based on cell morphology and DNA content. Both sperm morphology and DNA integrity results, obtained from raw semen samples, have been shown to be of prognostic value for unassisted and assisted conception and useful in the selection of the best assisted conception modality. These assays, however, provide an assessment of the distribution of cells in a given ejaculatethat may not be representative of the sperm population used in the ART treatment cycle.In fact, severe teratozoospermia, using Kruger’s strict criteria on pre-ART semen analysis, does notcorrelate to fertilization and Embryo formation (including blastocyst development) in ICSI cycles. Nonetheless, if a more holistic approach to sperm morphology is taken, two prognostic groups can still be identified in cases of severeteratozoospermia (<4% normal) because certain morphology patterns and sperm abnormalities are known to affect ICSI outcomes.The first group includes mostly genetically determined sperm pattern defects, such asglobozoospermia, short tail syndrome and small-headed spermatozoa (in most cases combined with very small acrosomes). All of these types represent untreatable conditions that have been associated with abnormal sperm function andpoor ART outcomes. The second group includes unspecifiedor non-genetically determined sperm defects or patternscaused by environmental factors, medication, infection and related infertility conditions, including varicocele. Treatment of these conditions has been shown to optimize sperm morphology indexes with a positive impact on ART outcomes. Although the technician microscopically selects morphologically normal individual sperm during ICSI, form normalcy does not necessarily imply normal DNA content. As such, sperm DNA testing has been advocated to be an independent and reliable marker of fertility potential since sperm chromatin andDNA integrity is essential to ensure that the fertilizing sperm cansupport normal Embryonic development of the zygote. At present, conflicting reports exist on the role of sperm DNA fragmentation index for Embryo development, and it is apparent that DNA fragmentation does not significantly impair zygote and cleaving Embryo morphology because major activation of the Embryonic genome only beginafter the 4-cell stage. These observations do no underscore the importance of finding ways to increase sperm DNA integrity, since it has been suggested that DNA fragmentation is associated with late paternal effects that may lead to early miscarriages or diseases in the offspring. The etiology of sperm DNA damage is multi-factorial and may be due to primary (ageing, cryptorchidism, genetic defects, idiopathic) and or secondary (drugs, environmental, tobacco smoking, genital tract inflammation, infection, testicular hyperthermia and varicoceles) factors. Specific or non-specific treatments, including antioxidant supplements, are generally associated with reduced levels of sperm DNA damage and/or improved fertility potential. Taken in conjunction, it is apparent that there is no unique sperm factor able to predict Embryo development, but several candidate biomarkers are involved in this complex process.As a result, a wide variety of techniques have been proposed, including externalization of phosphotidylserine (magnetic-activated cell sorting), cell charge (zeta charge), maturity markers (hyaluronic acid binding) and detailed morphological analysis (intracytoplasmic morphologically selection sperm injection). Currently, these are several shortcomings for the routine application of these new methods to a busy IVF laboratory, both financially and logistically, and current data fail to indicate superiority of any of these methods over conventional ICSI. It is clear that better sperm fertility tools are urgently required. In this context, metabolomics and proteomic sperm profiling are under investigation and may be translated into clinical practice in the near future.