Embryology lab

Embryo cultivation

• Altravita uses last generation incubators: cells are cultured in low oxygen level (5%), nitrogen gas is provided in addition to carbon dioxide to better mimic conditions in the body. Our experienced embryologists closely monitor each embryo development.

  At Altravita we transfer embryos on the 5th day of cultivation. The ability to grow embryos for five days to the blastocyst stage of development in the laboratory, rather than the traditional three days, allows our embryology team to determine, with greater certainty, which embryos are really the best in terms of their potential for implantation.

  Cultivation of embryos in the sound environment

  In the spring of 2016 specialists developed and implemented a method that allows bringing the cultivation of embryos closer to more physiological conditions.  

  In an artificial environment used in reproductive technologies for the development of embryos before transfering them to the uterus, the conditions are as close as possible to natural, since it is the factor that determines how the embryonic development will proceed. The system of modern incubators and cryobanks maintains constant humidity, temperature and other parameters necessary for the healthy development of embryos and high-quality storage during freezing.

  Dynamic environment

  Scientists keep working to improve cultural environments, but so far there is no one hundred percent understanding of the behavior of embryos in vivo, that is, the mother’s reproductive organs. It is well known that during natural development, an embryo undergoes vibrations that have a positive effect on daily embryonic activity.

  This technique is based on the transfer of musical or other vibrations (for example, from the mother’s body sounds) into a Petri dish with embryos.

  Call your embryo 

  Calling your own fetus from a mobile device is an additional feature of this method. A specific contact number is assigned to the incubator. By dialing it parents can call and transmit their sound vibrations to the embryo.

  This is not only useful for the embryo development, but will also become an indispensable psychological aid for patients who are often in a depressed psycho-emotional state due to the lack of direct connection with their developing offspring. After all, a balanced psychological state of parents is an essential component of successful treatment. 

  Generally, a Petri dish is in a static state, remains in silence and calm, without any sound effects, which is not entirely characteristic of the natural environment where embryos develop. Natural embryogenesis is accompanied by various vibrations (mechanical, acoustic), due to the mother vital activity.

  Scientists examined 1,000 donor eggs, divided into two experimental groups. One group developed in ordinary incubator conditions, the second was exposed to sound vibrations of a certain frequency and volume (up to 80 decibels). To exclude a genetic factor, for two groups the biomaterial of the same parents was used.

  The results of the experiment showed that due to sound vibrations the number of embryos in the blastocyst phase increased by 20%, and the success rate of fertilization rose by 6%. These are excellent indicators, given that each percent of successful fertilization is important.

  Specialists of embryological laboratories conducted many other experiments to bring the artificial microenvironment of embryo development closer to the natural one. So, there were attempts to grow it on an inclined surface that simulates the embryo movement, as if it was in a fallopian tube. However, such methods did not bring the desired result, which cannot be said about the acoustic effects.

NASUM

• This innovative technology allows to study the morphology of sperm at the level of microstructures by zooming in them to a level of 18,000 times.

  The NASUM method is used in cases where a spermogram is not enough to determine a patient's diagnosis. NASUM has no analogues in establishing the form of teratozoospermia, which gives an additional understanding of the causes of impaired fertilization and the normal development of fertilized eggs.

  The unique NASUM method was invented by the AltraVita clinic specialists, which is a clinical branch of the International Medical Center for diagnosis and treatment of male infertility.

Assessment of the spindle of egg division

• Thanks to the development of optical and computational technologies, it has become possible to observe the spindle of division in real time in a live egg.

  A device called Poloscope allows you to use optical distortion of light waves passing through an egg placed under a microscope, send this data to a PC that analyzes the information received and determines the position of the spindle.

  With the information regarding the absence or presence the spindle of division in the oocyte, its localization and clarity, it is possible to make predictions about the quality of the egg. Visualization of the spindle minimizes the likelihood of damage to ICSI / IMSI, and thereby increases the efficiency of fertilization and the quality of embryos.

  Also, the information obtained through this procedure can answer a number of questions concerning the causes of poor fertilization and the low quality of embryos in previous programs.

Ovarian Activation

• People inevitably face this problem with age, although it is not that uncommon even among young people (premature ovarian exhaustion), often after surgical treatment for pelvic problems.The activation takes place outside the human body, in the IVF laboratory, where they remove the natural genetic block from the cells. However, a laparoscopic operation on the patient’s ovaries is an unpleasant but necessary step to extract ovarian tissue, which will be activated later with the use of specialized equipment.

  The activated ovarian tissue is put back into the patient’s body, and where it proceeds to develop on its own, producing follicles. After some time, the patient’s periods come back for 1-3 cycles. If during this timeframe the ovarian stimulation is carried out, then the eggs suitable for fertilization can be produced.

TESE/TESA

• TESA can be used as a diagnostic procedure to detect causes of male infertility, or as a procedure to recover sperm from the testicles from men with obstructions or ejaculatory problems that cannot be treated by any other methods.

  In the TESA procedure, a very fine needle is passed into the testicles under anaesthetic, and a tiny amount of tubules is removed from the seminiferous tubules (network of tiny tubes inside the testicles, where sperm are produced). These tubules are then processed in the laboratory and checked for the presence of sperm, which can be used to fertilize eggs.

  Sperm retrieved from the seminiferous tubules in a TESA procedure are less mature and less motile than sperm found in ejaculated seminal fluid. As such, ICSI or IMSI are required to achieve fertilization with TESA sperm.

Hatching

ICSI/IMSI

• Intracytoplasmic Morphological Sperm Injection (IMSI) is similar to ICSI with the one exception: a doctor before microinjection using a multiple magnification of the microscope - about 6,000 times - carefully examines the sperm, chooses the most "healthy", without pathological changes. Only after that doctor takes a sperm for its introduction into the egg.