Recently, anti-phospholipid antibodies are measured for the infertility patients at some clinics. In this review, the significance of measurement of anti-phospholipid antibodies and application of heparin therapy is discussed.
We measured anti-cardiolipin beta-2-GPI antibody, lupus anti-coagulant antibody, antiphospatidylethanolamine antibody, and factor XII in patients of infertility and recurrent abortion. The infertile patients with anti-phosphatidylethanolamin antibody, and/or factor XII deficiency exist, and their frequency is about 50% of recurrent abortion patients. But there is no evidence that measurement of anti-phospholipid antibodies and makers for thrombophilia (ex. factor XII) is effective, and it remains unclear whether anti-coagulation is effective. In our experience, anti-phospholipid antibodies and makers for thrombophilia should be measured in the patients of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) high risk group, and these patients should be applied anti-coagulation therapy during their OHSS period.

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Advances in embryo freeze-thawing techniques can be cited as one factor in the development and widespread use of assisted reproductive medicine. It has been reported, however, that freezing causes hardening of the zona pellucida in embryos. Cryopreservation was initially carried out by slow freezing, but recently, vitrification has become a widely used, well-established method. In this study, we used vitrification to freeze-thaw mouse blastcysts obtained by in vitro fertilization, and compared fresh blastcysts with blastcysts directly after freeze-thawing and after 2, 4, 6, 12, and 24 h of recovery culture using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The reticulate structure seen in fresh blastcysts was observed to be in a closed state after freeze-thawing, suggesting hardening of the zona pellucida. During recovery culture, the structure of the zona pellucida gradually approached that of fresh blastcysts, but was not fully restored even after extending the recovery culture period. These findings suggest that freezing affects the structure of the zona pellucida, which could not be fully restored despite some degree of recovery after recovery culture.

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