Abstract:
There are conflicting reports in the literature about the effect of the water source for growth and insemination media in an in vitro fertilisation (IVF) programme. A controlled trial was carried out in which two-cell mouse embryos were cultured in Ham F10 medium containing either grade 1 water (test group) or grade 2 water (control group). Of the two-cell embryos, 92,0% (69 of 75) in the test group and 91,8% (67 of 73) in the control group cleaved to the blastocyst stage (no statistically significant difference). On the basis of this experiment grade 2 water was used in the Tygerberg Hospital human IVF programme with good results. A continuing pregnancy rate of 23% per embryo transfer over a 1-year period is reported.
