Page 151 - PCC02

Oil Overlay
• Due to the small volumes of medium used for embryo culture (20-250μl)an oil overlay is used to prevent evaporarion and hence stop the medium becoming hyperosmotic
• Protection from osmalarity and pH changes
• Oil used for culture medium (Mineral/parafin) overlay are industrial origined so it’s
essential that the quality is ensured by appropriate bioassays!( Garnder 2005)
• Has to be stored in cool & dark since it has the capacity to oxidize over time
• Oils may come with many inpurities some of which could be embryo toxic. Different protocols have been developed to wash oils with medium or with a solution of chelators such as EDTA.( Morbeck&Leonard 2012)
• Evaluation of 4 different oil overlay on embryo quality at early cleavage stages
• 500 IVF/ICSI cases, embryos cultured in microdroplets covered with 4 diff.types of oil
• Day 2 embryo quality was similar in all groups, whereas there were sig.diff. in embryo quality on day 3
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