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Component |
Benefit |
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Human insulin (recombinant 50 IU/l) |
FertiCult IVF medium contains 50 IU/liter recombinant insulin (human) to enhance medium properties.
Insulin is known to enhance sperm motility and acrosome reaction (which is beneficial for fertilization) (Lampiao and du Plessis 2008), and has an anti-apoptotic activity (which is beneficial for embryo culture) (Herrler, et al. 1998) (Spanos, et al. 2000).
In vivo, the maternal reproductive tract is also known to produce insulin and insulin like growth factors (Lighten, et al. 1996) (Hai-Yan and Zi-Neng 2001).
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HSA (4 g/L) |
FertiCult IVF medium contains 4 g/Liter Human Serum Albumin (HSA) to optimize medium performances. HSA is universally added to most ART media because it is widely considered to be of benefit.
The role of albumin in ART media is extensive, including:
- Stabilization of the cell membrane of the embryo in the medium (Malda, et al. 2008).
- Inhibition of lipid peroxidation that can be damaging to sperm (Alvarez and Storey 1995).
- Carrier and source of essential molecules needed by the embryo (Malda, et al. 2008)
- Detoxification by binding waste products from cell metabolism (Blake, et al. 2004)
- Facilitating gamete/embryo manipulation by preventing adsorption to the surface through saturation of potential binding sites (Blake, et al. 2004)
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Phenol red sodium salt (0.003 g/L) |
FertiCult IVF medium is also available with the addition of phenol red.
Phenol red functions as a visual pH indicator:
- > 7.35: the medium is colored red to purple.
- 7.15 - 7.35: the medium is colored pink to rose.
- < 7.15: the medium is colored yellow.
0.003 g/L is the minimum concentration of phenol red needed to view a color (Fleming and Cooke 2008). pH stabilization is essential when handling gametes or embryos. Therefore, validation of pH changes is strongly recommended. Changes in medium color also act as an indicator for bacterial or fungal contamination. Infection affects pH and this can easily be observed in medium containing a pH indicator such as phenol red.
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Gentamicin sulphate (10 mg/L) |
FertiCult IVF medium is also available with the addition of gentamicin sulphate.
Indeed, even under aseptic conditions, commensal bacteria are easily introduced in culture media. Since these contaminations can be detrimental to gametes, embryos and ART outcome, a large number of customers choose to use media supplemented with gentamicin (Quinn 2014).
Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) tests done by FertiPro N.V. have demonstrated that embryo culture media supplemented with 0.010 g/L gentamicin efficiently eliminate bacterial growth.
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