Off-gassing plasticware to decrease the toxicity effect in embryo culture

OBJECTIVE: To determine if reproductive toxicity might be reduced by off-gassing plasticware before use in in vitro fertilization culture. METHODS: Petri dishes were grouped according to the off-gassing days before use for testing as follow: 0 day (Group A); 3 days (Group B); 7 days (Group C). Two bioassays were run: Human survival sperm assay (HSSA) at 24 hours for all groups and mouse embryo assay (MEA) to evaluate the effect of the off-gassing procedure. Sperm motility and sperm motility index values were examined and blastocyst formation was calculated on Days 4 and 5. RESULTS: HSSA revealed decreased sperm motility in Group A (84%) compared to Groups B (94%) and C (93%) (p<0.5). MEA showed no statistical difference in blastocyst formation for the off-gassing groups (79.6%, 84.4%, 80%, Group A, B, and C, respectively; p>0.5). Hatching blastocyst formation on Day 5 was decreased in the non-off-gassing group (49% vs. 56.7%, p>0.5). CONCLUSIONS: Off-gassing for at least 72 hours decreases the toxicity of plasticware before use in in vitro fertilization cultures for HSSA. Further investigation needs to be done in order to standardize the bioassays used to evaluate this procedure.