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DNA fingerprinting identifies viable embryos

28 May 2008

Dr David Cram

Monash researchers have used DNA fingerprinting to identify which embryos implanted after in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) have resulted in the birth of healthy babies.

The technique, combined with sampling cells from blastocysts (the very early embryo) before implantation, may help identify which blastocysts are most likely to result in a successful pregnancy.

Senior research scientists at Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories (MISCL) Drs David Cram and Gayle Jones believe their findings will revolutionise IVF by improving pregnancy rates and eliminating multiple pregnancies.

"DNA fingerprinting is the ultimate form of biological identification but until now it has not been used to identify the embryonic origin of babies born following embryo transfer," Dr Cram said.

"We have developed a novel method to identify viable blastocysts among the cohorts transferred to patients. Our ultimate aim is to find out which genes are expressed by viable blastocysts."

Dr Gayle Jones

When couples attend fertility clinics for IVF, eggs from the woman are fertilised with sperm from the man. The fertilised eggs are then left to develop in the laboratory for about five days until they reach the blastocyst stage.

As there is no reliable way of differentiating between viable and non-viable blastocysts, many couples opt to have more than one implanted in order to increase the chance of pregnancy. This often leads to multiple births.

The transfer of multiple embryos also makes it hard to determine which have developed into a successful pregnancy and therefore difficult to develop criteria which can be used to identify viable blastocysts.

Although more work needs to be done, the researchers say their work will be useful for testing different treatments of embryos without the need to recruit women to clinical trials.

This research was first published in Human Reproduction -- A monthly journal of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).

Copies of the paper are available from Oxford Journals.