JBRA Assisted Reproduction 2025;29(Suppl.2 SBRA 2025):65
29th Annual Congress of the SBRA. São Paulo/SP - Brazil, 2025
doi: 10.5935/1518-0557.20263627
JBRA Assisted Reproduction 2025;29(Suppl.2 SBRA 2025):65
Poster Presentation
29th Annual Congress of the SBRA. São Paulo/SP - Brazil, 2025
doi: 10.5935/1518-0557.20263627
P-53.Correlation of cell-free DNA analysis for aneuploidy in preimplantation embryos with morphokinetic parameters: preliminary results
1 Igenomix - Part of Vitrolife Group - Spain
2 Vitrolife Group, Denmark
3 Next F – Valencia -Spain 4 FERTTY – Barcelona - Spain
Objective: This study aims to examine morphokinetic parameters in embryos analyzed by niPGT-A, especially focusing on those with aneuploid result. It also investigates a pattern related to late development, the embryo’s ability to collapse, and its relation to the corresponding euploid or aneuploid status obtained by analysing the embryonic cell-free DNA released in the culture medium.
Methods: These preliminary results are part of a prospective multicenter study (NCT06524648), including results from four centres in the period December 2024 to May 2025. Embryos were cultured following a protocol for niPGT-A that consisted in the analysis of culture media from day 4 to 6 of development, from normally fertilized blastocysts that were cultured in an EmbryoScope+ time-lapse device. Morphokinetic parameters were evaluated at early stages (tPNf [time of pronuclear fading], t2, t3, t4, t5, t6, t7, t8 [stages of 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 blastomeres]) and late stages of development (tM [time of morula], tSB [time of starting blastulation], tB [time of full blastocyst], tEB [time of expanding blastocyst], tHB [time of hatching blastocyst)]). Only embryos with an informative result for niPGT-A were included in the study. Concerning the categories established based on niPGT-A results were: euploid (no aneuploidies observed), single aneuploidy (monosomy and trisomy of whole chromosome only) and multiple aneuploidies (involving more than one whole chromosome). The study also verifies the relationship between ploidy status in the niPGT-A and the presence of embryo collapse (defined as if there was ≥50% volume reduction from the expanded blastocyst). The morphokinetic timings and collapse analysis was evaluated with Mann-Whitney test, considering a value of p<0.05, as a statistical difference
Results: Of the 68 embryos analysed, 31 were considered euploid and 37 aneuploid. Regarding culture time, the average duration of embryos in the incubator was 140 hours post-insemination (hpi). With respect to the presence of collapse, aneuploid embryos tended to collapse more frequently than euploid embryos. The mean value was 0.77 for euploid embryos compared to 1.52 for aneuploid embryos, a statistically significant difference (p=0.02). No significant differences were observed in embryos with single and multiple aneuploidies (1.55 vs 1.57). In the comparison of the morphokinetic parameters between aneuploid embryos, one embryo was excluded from the analysis because of missing data. 22 embryos presented single aneuploidy, and 14 multiple aneuploidies. It was possible to observe significant differences for the early stage of development between both groups: tPNf (single aneuploidy: 23.47±2.75, multiple aneuploidies: 26.15±3.31, p=0.02) and t2 (single aneuploidy: 26.47±2.9, multiple aneuploidies: 28.93±3.58, p=0.04). No statistically significant difference was observed for the other morphokinetic parameters (p>0.05). In the comparison of euploid embryos, single aneuploidy embryos, and multiple aneuploidy embryos, the only morphokinetic parameter showing a significant difference was tHB. The mean values were: euploid, 121.18; single aneuploidy, 130.01; and multiple aneuploidy, 124.91, with a significant difference observed between euploid and single aneuploidy embryos (p=0.02).
Conclusion: The data from this preliminary study show statistically significant differences in morphokinetic parameters related to the early stage of development when comparing single aneuploid and multiple aneuploid embryos. And in late stage comparing euploidy with single aneuploidy embryos. In addition, embryos considered normal in the culture medium tend to collapse fewer times compared to aneuploid embryos. This study highlights the importance of continuing research on these two non-invasive methods, which assist in the embryo selection process.