Reference:
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GAIN010ES |
1x 10ml GAIN medium Early Stage |
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GAIN010BL |
1x 10ml GAIN medium Blastocyst |
GAIN medium consists of 2 types of ready to use cell culture media for use with human embryos and gametes. The media can be used for fertilization, zygotes and embryos culture through the cleavage stages and up to the expanded blastocyst stage and for embryo transfer.
GAIN medium Early Stage (GAIN ES) can be used for the handling of oocytes (in preparation of, or during IVF/ICSI) and for cell culture from fertilization up to 4-cell stage, for the processing of semen and for embryo transfer.
GAIN medium Blastocyst (GAIN BL) is designed for embryo culture from 4-cell up to expanded blastocyst stage and for embryo transfer. Alternatively, the medium can be used immediately after fertilization, up till expanded blastocyst stage.
The media contain 0.35% human serum albumin (EMA, Ph Eur, USP, FDA approved), gentamicin and low concentrations of phenol red (pH indicator).
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The product composition can be found in the MSDS (see Resources). Additional information on some components is provided below:
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Component |
Benefit |
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No HEPES (0 mM) |
GAIN medium does not contain HEPES, therefore CO2 incubation is required.
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Gentamicin sulphate (10 mg/L) |
GAIN 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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EDTA |
EDTA probably acts in several ways (Quinn 2000). EDTA is known to act as a chelator of heavy metal divalent cations that may be present as trace contaminants in media components and plastic culture ware.
Moreover, EDTA acts through the chelation of iron resulting in a lowered generation of reactive oxygen species (Nasr-Esfahani et al. 1990). EDTA may also suppress glycolysis and may therefore be beneficial for the culture of cleavage stage embryos (Lane and Gardner 2001).
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HSA (3.5 g/L) |
GAIN medium contains 3.5 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 en 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)
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