Efetividade da utilização de incubadoras de CO2 equipadas com filtro Hepa e filtro Hepa-Voc para cultivo de embriões em ciclos de fertilização in Vitro

Abstract

ntroduction and objectives. The air quality in sterile environment is an important aspect to cell culture. It is known the culture conditions are essential for in vitro human embryo development; however there is no standardization for incubator filters in in vitro fertilization (IVF) laboratories. Recently, the incubator air quality has been receiving attention, and effect of volatile organic compounds (VOC) has being highlighted. The aim of this study was to evaluate the laboratorial outcomes of IVF cycles with embryo culture using CO2 incubators with the HEPA filter for air particles and a high efficiency VOC filter with activated coal. Material and methods. This is an observational prospective controlled study which included 160 IVF cycles at Human Reproduction Clinic CRIAR between 2008 January and 2009 September. The cycles were matched to patient age, infertility etiology, pituitary desensitization protocol, and semen origin and quality. Thirty five cycles were compared in which the embryos were cultured in CO2 incubator with HEPA filter (HEPA group) and 35 cycles where a CO2 incubator with VOC filter was used for embryos cultures (VOC group). Results. The groups were similar for general characteristics of IVF cycles. We did not observed differences about normal fertilization and embryo cleavage rates. On the other side, the proportion of high quality embryos (grade A) was higher on VOC group (50.8%) than HEPA group (35.7%; p=0.05). Conclusions. IVF cycles using CO2 incubator with VOC filter for embryo culture results in a increased high quality embryos rate, those with high implantation potential.