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Volume 5, No 1 July/August 2002

Internalization of cellular fragments in a human embryo: time-lapse recordings 

T Hardarson1, C Löfman1, G Coull1, A Sjögren1, L Hamberger1,3, R G Edwards2
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Göteborg Univesity, SU/Sahlgrenska, 413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden
2Editor, Reproductive BioMedicine Online, Duck End Farm, Dry Drayton, Cambridge CB3 8DB, UK
3Correspondence: tel: 46 31 342 3338; fax: 46 31 829248; email: lars.hamberger@obgyn.gu.se

An observation is reported of internalization of a cellular fragment into a blastomere from a human embryo, as documented by time-lapse photography. The fragment, created during the first mitotic cleavage was reabsorbed into one of the mother blastomeres in less than 5 min. This time-lapse sequence provides the first direct evidence that cellular fragments in human embryos can ‘disappear’ during the culture period, a phenomenon that is common in human IVF.

Please note that the estimated download time for these movies with a modem is about 10 minutes for the MPEG file (recommended for quality) and about 20 minutes for the AVI file. Readers with broadband access to the internet should have much less delay in downloading the movie sequence.

Reproductive BioMedicine Online 2002 Vol. 5, No. 1 36–38

Keywords: embryo, fragmentation, time-lapse photography