Evidence of parthenogenetic origin of ovarian teratoma: Case report

Abstract

This case report represents one of the few documented cases of parthenote embryo retrieval from an IVF patient with a history of ovarian teratomas. A 29-year-old woman presented at our centre with a history of primary infertility for 6 years due to male factor. She had undergone left oophorectomy 4 years before due to an ovarian teratoma. An ultrasound scan performed during basal evaluation revealed two complex images in the right ovary suggesting teratomas, measuring 2.5 x 2.4 and 1.7 x 1.3 cm. A significant extent of sonographically normal ovarian parenchyma was present, and the patient underwent the long leuprolide acetate protocol of ovarian stimulation with recombinant FSH for an IVF-ICSI cycle. She had 13 metaphase II (MII), four metaphase I (MI), two germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes and one 4-cell embryo retrieved. Eight out of nine injected oocytes were fertilized normally while one was unfertilized. Embryo transfer was carried out 72 h after retrieval. The 4-cell (parthenote) embryo recovered at oocyte retrieval continued to cleave in culture, developing into a 7-cell embryo by the next day. The embryo was morphologically normal, presenting an evident nucleus in each blastomere. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) returned two signals for the X chromosome in each blastomere that was analysed. Of the eight normally fertilized embryos, three were transferred, resulting in a normal singleton pregnancy and the birth of a healthy baby.

Evidence of metachronous development of ovarian teratomas: a case report of bilateral mature cystic teratomas of the ovaries and systematic literature review

“…Teratoma is a benign germ cell tumor of more than one cell type, originating from more than one germ layer [2]. One of the most common locations is the ovary [3].…”

A highly homozygous and parthenogenetic human embryonic stem cell line derived from a one-pronuclear oocyte following in vitro fertilization procedure

“…In humans, spontaneous parthenoactivation of oocytes has been observed in vivo and is related to the formation of benign ovararian teratomas [15][16][17]. With the widespread introduction of assisted reproductive technology (ART), human oocytes can be manipulated and fertilized in vitro.…”

Developmental potential of embryos from intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles containing fragmented oocytes

“…Parthenogenesis is thought to result from a failure to maintain MII arrest that occurs either spontaneously or from an induced entry into anaphase II. In vivo parthenogenetic activation in humans is the reported cause of some ovarian teratomas and certain mosaic states (5)(6)(7)(8), and in vitro parthenogenesis may be an etiology of single pronucleate zygotes (9,10). Several studies have described the formation of parthenotes from fresh, cryopreserved, and in vitro-matured human oocytes (11)(12)(13).…”