Hydrosalpingeal fluid inhibits in-vitro embryonic development in a murine model

Recent evidence describing a suboptimal clinical outcome in women withhydrosalpinges who undergo in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfersuggests a potential deleterious effect of this fluid on in- utero embryodevelopment. Consequently, we evaluated in-vitro mouse embryo developmentin the presence of hydrosalpingeal fluid (HF) collected from 10 infertilewomen of reproductive age. Chemical analyses showed both similarities anddifferences of these fluids to reported values for fluids collected fromnon-diseased Fallopian tubes. The HF had a significant deleterious effectupon mouse embryo cleavage and development to the expanded and hatchedblastocyst stage, although the effect was variable among patients. Dilutionof HF to 30% concentration with culture medium failed to negate thiseffect. This argues against the effect resulting from a relative lack ofcritical, supportive component(s) in the HF. Additionally, furtherexperiments performed with cultures under an oil overlay significantlyreduced the embryotoxicity of the HF. This evidence suggests there may be alipophilic factor that can impair embryo development. The relatively poorIVF-embryo transfer success in women with proximally patent hydrosalpingesmay be explained, at least in part, by reflux of a lipophilic embryotoxicfactor(s) into the uterine cavity.