Minimising stress to facilitate viable embryo development - recent advances in culture conditions

The developing human embryo is exposed to several sources of stress in the IVF laboratory. Prof David Gardner discusses different types of stresses and presents ways create environments and media that restrict the impact of such in vitro-induced stresses.
He concludes that the ultimate culture system will facilitate the time-specific exposure of the embryo to nutrients and factors, while removing the build-up of harmful end products of metabolism, while facilitating constant visualisation throughout embryo development.
Prof David K Gardner works at University of Melbourne in Australia This lecture was a part of the Vitrolife Satellite Symposium “Optimising the success of every IVF cycle - advances in culture, selection and transfer.” The symposium took place as part of ESHRE 2014 in Munich, Germany.
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