Use of Synthetic Serum Substitute and alpha-minimum essential medium for the extended culture of human embryos to the blastocyst stage

This study was designed to provide further information on mouse and human embryo development in alpha-modified minimum essential medium (alphaMEM). First, we compared the development and implantation potential of murine in-vitro fertilized (IVF) embryos cultured in alphaMEM, in the presence and absence of co-culture cells. No significant difference was observed in blastocyst rate between alphaMEM alone (76.2%) and alphaMEM plus co-culture (79.9%). The percentage of hatched blastocysts was, however, higher with co-culture (47.5 versus 40%, P 50% embryo volume) or fully expanded. These data suggest that alphaMEM in conjunction with a commercial protein preparation such as Synthetic Serum Substitute may be a good basal medium for culture of human embryos to the blastocyst stage.