Comparison of Medicult and Sage Media for In Vitro Maturation of Immature Oocytes Obtained during Cesarean Deliveries

Abstract

Background: The success of in vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes depends on many factors. Culture medium is one crucial part of the technique, but evidence-based selection of the medium is difficult because very few trials are available on this subject. In this study we compared two widely available commercial media, namely Medicult (Origo, Måløv, Denmark) and Sage medium (Cooper Surgical, Trumbull, CT, USA) for IVM of human oocytes.\r Methods: One thousand and fifteen immature oocytes were collected by needle aspiration from ninety-three women, who underwent cesarean deliveries during a five-month period at a University Hospital in Thailand. Sibling oocytes were allocated to either Medicult (509 oocytes) or Sage IVM medium (506 oocytes) and assessed for maturation after 36 hours in culture. Mature oocytes were inseminated by intracytoplasmic sperm injection and cultured up to 144 hours. χ2-tests were used to compare maturation, fertilization, cleavage and blastocyst formation rates between the two groups.\r Results: There was no statistical difference (p>0.05) in maturation (65.0 vs. 64.2 %), fertilization (69.9 vs. 65.2 %), cleavage (61.7 vs. 61.2 %), or blastocyst formation (48.1 vs. 46.7 %) between oocytes in the two groups.\r Conclusions: Despite the unfavorable hormonal milieu, immature oocytes obtained during pregnancies are developmentally competent. Given equal efficacy, the choice of Medicult or Sage IVM medium depends on availability, cost, and ease of use. This approach is an attractive alternative to conventional oocyte donation and may be used to generate mature oocytes for stem cell research.