Objective To investigate whether sperm from different males can influ ence fert ilization and embryo development. Design To use an egg-sharing model, in which the eggs from one woman are shared between herself and a recipient, and differen t spermatozoa are used to fertilize the eggs. Setting Assisted Conception Unit, Birmingham Womens Hospital, Edgbaston, United Kingdom. Patient(s) Infertile wo men undergoing egg sharing. Intervention(s) In vitro fertilization (IVF). Main o utcome measure(s) Fertilization rates and the mean day 2 or 3 embryo score (cell number X grade) were examined for eggsharing pairs. A comparison was also made for pairs in which intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and IVF was used as t he insemination method. A paired samples t-test was used to compare the sharer and recipient results. Result(s) Pregnancy rates did not differ between sharer a nd recipient couples. Interestingly, when comparing fertilization, there was a s ignificant difference (P <.05) in favor of IVF over ICSI.When comparing embryo d evelopment between egg-sharing pairs, we found that approximately 30%of patien ts showed a difference in mean embryo score of ≥5 in all embryo development and 14%in the quality of embryos available for transfer. Conclusion(s)We showed th at the egg-sharing model is a successful alternative for the treatment of women who required donated eggs. More important, the egg-sharing model shows that, i n a certain percentage of couples, differences in early embryo development are p aternally influenced.
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