Study design and patients
This study included 1623 fresh IVFD-ETs for the first time between January 2014 and January 2021 at our hospital. After excluding subjects with in-vitro maturation, previous uterine or ovary surgery and uterine malformation, a total of 1587 women were included during the study period. All female patients were not beyond 35 years old to eliminate possible age-related cycle characteristics, and only the women receiving long/ultra-long agonist protocol were included in the analysis. Ultimately, 1250 patients were included and divided into two groups as follows: 3PN=0% group included patients with no 3PN zygotes (n=635) and 3PN>0% group included patients with 3PN zygotes (n=615).
Ovarian stimulation protocol
All first-attempt down-regulated ovarian stimulation cycles were long or ultra-long protocols with GnRH agonist (GnRH-a, Decapeptyl, Germany) and recombinant FSH (GONAL-f, Merck, Serono, Italy; Purge, Organon, the Netherlands) for controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH). The details of the ovarian stimulation protocol for the ovarian stimulation regimen were as previously described [5].
Sperm preparation and IVFD procedure
The donor sperm samples were supplied by Shaanxi Province Human Sperm Bank. The general procedures for donor recruitment, sperm freezing, and selection of recipients were the same, in accordance with the standards of National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) of the People’s Republic of China. All donor samples were studied by means of periodical analysis to eliminate the presence of sexually transmitted diseases and genetic disorders. Briefly, the requirements for donor semen are as follows: semen volume ≥2 ml, concentration ≥60 × 106/ml, progressive motility ≥60%, and normal morphology of ≥30%, and patients were healthy and had no chromosome abnormality [6]. Samples were thawed and prepared by density gradients when required, after selection to match the receiving couple’s phenotypical characteristics and blood type.
Conventional IVF fertilization was performed 2-2.5 h after oocyte retrieval. Each oocyte was incubated with approximately 40,000 sperm and fertilization was allowed to occur naturally.Generally, two eggs were co-cultured with sperms in each well.
Embryo culture and assessment with conventional morphology
The OCCs were cultured in the medium (IVF; Vitrolife, Sweden) after retrieval. The zygotes were shifted to the cleavage medium (G-1; Vitrolife) 5 hours after the fertilization of IVF. The embryos to culture blastocyst on day 3 were transferred to the blastocyst medium (G-2; Vitrolife) until day 6. All medium were covered with paraffin oil in a humidified atmosphere at 37°C for prior 24 h.
Embryo morphology was assessed by two well-trained embryologists on the mornings of days three and five of embryo development using an inverted microscope (Eclipse TE 300; Nikon, Tokyo, Japan) under 400 × magnification. A morphologic score was given for day-3 and day-5 embryo according to using published criteria [7,8].
Observation of multinucleation at two-cell stage (MN2)
For culture with the EmbryoScope (Vitrolife, Sweden), dedicated 16-well plates were prepared with 25 ml microdrops of culture medium (Vitrolife, Sweden) overlaid by 1.4 ml of mineral oil (Vitrolife) at 37°C, in 6% CO2, 5% O2, and 89% N2. Images of each embryo were analyzed retrospectively using the EmbryoViewer external image analysis software (Unisense FertiliTech, Sweden). Images were acquired every 20 min in seven different focal planes during culture. The embryos with MN2 were recorded by using time-lapse monitoring.
ET and pregnancy confirmation
The ET catheter (Cook Ireland Ltd., Limerick, Ireland) was used for transfer. Before transfer, any vaginal and cervical secretions were gently removed from the vagina/cervix with small pledgets of cotton wool, moistened with warm normal saline. The mucus in the cervical canal was wiped away. After transfer, the catheter was checked for retained embryos and the presence of blood. After ET, all patients were given luteal support (Duphaston; progesterone injection).
Serum β-hCG was measured 14 days after cleavage-stage embryo transfer and 9 days after blastocyst transfer. Clinical pregnancy was defined by the ultrasound confirmation of an intrauterine gestational sac after 6 weeks of gestation. Ongoing pregnancy was defined as fetal cardiac activity at 12 weeks. Live birth was defined as the delivery of a live-born infant (> 24 weeks of gestation).
Statistical analysis
Comparison of the results between groups in the case of continuous variables was made by using Student’s t test for data with normal distribution and non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test for data with skewed distribution. Comparison of the results between groups in the case of categorical variables was expressed as number and percentage and analyzed using the Chi-square test or Fisher exact test. Forward logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the risk factors for 3PN incidence. The statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 21 (IBM Corp., USA). Differences were considered statistically significant when p < 0.05.