New method could increase fertility for women undergoing IVF and egg freezing

This could be egg-cellent news for women struggling with infertility.

A research team from Japan says it has developed a new egg maturation technique that may improve in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes.

IVF babies account for about 2% of US births each year. The success rate depends on various factors, including the quality of the embryo and the age of the mother.

Now, scientists from Shinshu University say they have found a way to produce viable, embryo-forming eggs from underdeveloped cells.

In IVF, eggs are collected from a female patient and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory to create embryos that are implanted in the uterus.

The eggs are retrieved from fluid-filled sacs called follicles that are located within the ovary. Special cells surround the developing egg, providing essential nutrients and hormones so it can grow and mature.

But when isolating eggs for IVF, sometimes the cells detach, leaving behind an egg that can’t be used for fertilization.

The Shinshu team created a system within the lab that reconstructs the protective cell layer for the immature eggs.

Researchers tested their method by retrieving immature eggs from female mice, allowing the eggs to interact with the cells for over a week, which yielded 126 embryos and six births.

The findings were published in August in the journal Biology of Reproduction.

Tomohiro Kohama, a Ph.D. student and one of the study authors, said the “new culture protocol is the first to successfully obtain offspring” in this manner.

Besides helping human infertility, researchers say this method could increase reproductive rates among livestock and rebuild populations of endangered species.