Abstract
The growth of mammalian embryos in the laboratory has progressed nicely over the last
60 to 70 years. This has been important for basic studies of preimplantation embryo
regulation of growth, development, and differentiation. It has also been critical
for the establishment of assisted reproductive technologies in the clinical setting
to treat infertility. During the first 40 to 50 years, the primary focus was on defining
soluble media components, which fortunately has yielded improved success in the culture
of embryos. More recently, attention has shifted to other aspects of culture beyond
media composition. In this review we discuss recent advances in preimplantation embryo
culture that deal with modifying the insoluble culture environment, producing culture
environments that are dynamic and not static, systems that allow more precise gas
phase and/or media pH regulation/monitoring, and platforms that integrate with culture
systems to allow analysis of embryos and thus assist in selection of the embryos with
the greatest implantation potential.
Keywords
Embryo - culture - microenvironment - systems - equipment - analysis
