The association between microenvironmental reactive oxygen species and embryo development in assisted reproduction technology cycles.

This study was designed to determine the relevance between the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in microenvironment (follicular fluid or culture media) and the embryo development in IVF/ICSI cycles. A total of 466 follicles from 174 IVF/ICSI cycles were collected for this study. The ROS levels in monofollicular fluid and spent culture media were evaluated by chemiluminescence assay with luminol as a probe. The results demonstrated that it is in ICSI cycles that elevated ROS levels in follicular fluid were associated with day 3 poor embryo quality. The ROS levels in spent culture media were correlated with advanced degree of fragmentation. In addition, ROS levels in culture media, instead of in follicular fluid, were negatively correlated with implantation potential of embryos. The ROS levels in culture media may be viewed as an embryo metabolic marker and function as an adjuvant criterion for embryo selection.