Background: The current study aimed to investigate the impact of asymptomatic or mild severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on female fertility and laboratory and clinical outcomes in assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments. Methods: Patients undergoing ART treatments in the Reproductive Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Wuhan, from May 2020 to February 2021 were enrolled. Seventy of them were positive for serum SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (IgG and/or IgM), and 3973 patients had negative results. Propensity score matching with a ratio of 1:3 was performed, and there were 65 females in the case group and 195 females in the control group. Findings: The ovarian reserves and ovarian responses between groups after matching were similar. The proportions of mature oocytes, damaged oocytes, fertilized oocytes, cleavage embryos, high-quality embryos, and available blastocysts were also similar, despite a slight decrease in the blastocyst formation rate in the case group. In addition, there were no significant differences in terms of the biochemical pregnancy rate, clinical pregnancy rate, early miscarriage rate, or implantation rate. Interpretation: There is no evidence that a history of asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection in females may negatively affect female fertility, embryo laboratory outcomes, or clinical outcomes in ART treatments.

Fertility preservation has received unprecedented attention nowadays. In addition to cryopreservation and re-implantation of embryos, oocytes, and ovarian tissue pieces, in vitro culture system for follicles/oocytes has been considered as an alternative strategy for fertility preservation. Since the metabolic dynamics and required nutrients are not entirely the same in different stages of follicular development, optimization of each culture step is needed. In this paper, literature regarding culture conditions in three steps were analyzed. Known additives in activation stage included 740Y-P, bpV(HOpic), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), human serum albumin (HSA), ITS, growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9), bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15), and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), with different degrees of activation promotion and potential detrimental effect on DNA integrity. For isolated follicles growth stage, actin A, FSH, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), estradiol were proved to improve development or proliferation. As for maturation, addition of growth hormone, melatonin, C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), GDF9, cilostamide, or forskolin helped to regulate maturation rate or improve oocyte quality. Based on previous sequential culture system for human follicles, optimization is needed to achieve higher maturation rate and better oocyte quality, pursuant to current review, which demonstrated the effects of various additives on different stages.

Background This study aimed to evaluate the influences of SARS-CoV-2 infection on semen parameters and investigate the impact of the infection on in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes. Methods This retrospective study enrolled couples undergoing IVF cycles between May 2020 and February 2021 at Tongji Hospital, Wuhan. Baseline characteristics were matched using propensity score matching. Participants were categorized into an unexposed group (SARS-COV-2 negative) and exposed group (SARS-COV-2 positive) based on a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the populations were 148 and 50 after matching, respectively. IVF data were compared between the matched cohorts. Moreover, semen parameters were compared before and after infection among the infected males. The main measures were semen parameters and IVF outcomes, including laboratory and clinical outcomes. Results Generally, the concentration and motility of sperm did not significantly differ before and after infection. Infected males seemed to have fewer sperm with normal morphology, while all values were above the limits. Notably, the blastocyst formation rate and available blastocyst rate in the exposed group were lower than those in the control group, despite similar mature oocytes rates, normal fertilization rates, cleavage rates, and high-quality embryo rates. Moreover, no significant differences were exhibited between the matched cohorts regarding the implantation rate, biochemical pregnancy rate, clinical pregnancy rate, or early miscarriage rate. Conclusions The results of this retrospective cohort study suggested that the semen quality and the chance of pregnancy in terms of IVF outcomes were comparable between the males with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection and controls, although a decreased blastocyst formation rate and available blastocyst rate was observed in the exposed group, which needs to be reinforced by a multicenter long-term investigation with a larger sample size.