Musical micro-vibrations facilitate the fertilization of the ovum when it is in the laboratory. This is the first conclusion of the paper Impact of exposure to music during in vitro culture on embryo development presented by the Institut Marquès at the congress of the European Society of Reproduction (ESHRE) in London.
It is a work that provides new findings for the improvement of fertilization rates, which is key to the success of in vitro fertilization treatments. To carry out the study, for the first time, an embryo incubator with integrated speakers inside has been used. For this purpose, they devised a system capable of emitting music at 80 decibels in the incubator 24 hours a day. In addition, three different music styles (pop, heavy and classical music) were chosen to measure possible variations according to frequency.
During the study, 985 fertilized oocytes from 114 patients were analyzed. These eggs were randomly divided into two groups, which were cultured in two different incubators: one with loudspeakers and one without. The results showed that those cultured with music had a higher fertilization rate, 4.8% higher. There were no differences in the frequency of the style of music.
Dr. Marisa López-Teijón, head of Assisted Reproduction at the Institut Marquès, explains: “Our hypothesis is that the micro-vibrations stir up the culture media in which the oocyte swims, produce a more homogeneous distribution of the nutrients it needs and disperse the toxic products, preventing them from accumulating”.
In Vitro Fertilization Laboratory: a large womb with the most similar conditions to the human body.
It has always been sought that the conditions of the embryos in the laboratory reproduce those of the maternal uterus in terms of temperature, darkness and CO2 levels. But culture systems have also evolved and, nowadays, embryos are kept inside microdroplets, inside the incubator. The difference lies in the fact that, on the way to the uterus, the oocytes travel with continuous peristaltic and cellular movements with exchange of metabolites, whereas in the laboratory they remain static. As a consequence, the toxic products they release are stored in the medium itself. Some research has applied mechanical vibrations to the culture plates to avoid this, or have incorporated dynamic fluids into the culture media. “The novelty lies in using music as a source of vibrations in embryos during their in vitro development. It is a system that is easy to apply in reproduction laboratories, which the Institut Marquès is already using in all incubators,” explains Dr. López-Teijón.
The movement of musical vibrations stimulates growth
The effect of musical vibrations on cell growth has been studied in plants and animals, such as snails or rice plants. The potential of vibrations to increase the chances of the sperm fertilizing the egg, together with new technologies such as the Embryoscope, represents a turning point in assisted reproduction.
Embryoscope is a highly advanced incubator that allows embryos to be viewed 24 hours a day and to select those that will be most suitable for implantation, without the need to take them outside, thus maintaining unaltered the conditions they would have if they were in the mother’s uterus. The Institut Marquès applied it with various couples and, according to the results, it is exciting that the parents can observe them, since it reduces anxiety, especially in foreign parents, who can see and know from their country how the embryos evolve in the laboratory in Barcelona.