Endometrial study of a novel in vivo embryo culture

Resumen

European doctoral thesis presented by: Manuel Fernández-Sánchez Valencia 2012 Summary The objective of the study was to evaluate the clinical impact of this IVD system in the maternal endometrium. For this purpose, we tested the endometrial effects of an unloaded device (i.e., the capsule was not loaded with gametes or embryos) for a specific period of time (from 24 hours to 6 days). The evaluation was focused on verifying device tolerance by a daily clinical evaluation and direct observation through hysteroscopy after the device¿s retrieval. Besides, we evaluated whether the presence of the device causes any change in the endometrial receptivity genomic profile using a wide genomic approach. Gene expression changes induced by an inert IUD were used as a control. Our findings were useful for directing improvements to the device¿s design. The hysteroscopic evaluation did not show relevant macroscopic findings. Wide genomic analysis of the endometrial samples obtained from subjects with the IUD inserted for varying durations reveals no significant differences compared with the controls. In summary, we demonstrated the safety and tolerance of the insertion and retrieval of the IUD and the absence of relevant endometrial genetic impact of this unloaded device in the uterus for up to 6 days.