Co-culture update: creating an embryotrophic environment in vitro.

As infertility treatments evolve and techniques are developed to improve the fertilization and pregnancy rates, it is clear that the in vitro environment in which the gametes/embryos are cultured is less than perfect when compared to the in vivo counterpart. This becomes a serious problem for couples who seek to have children but are limited by unsuccessful attempts to become pregnant and a technology that is behind in mimicking the in vivo environment that would enhance gamete interaction and embryo development. In an attempt to begin to correlate the in vivo and in vitro microenvironment of the gametes/embryos and to recognize the potential of the fallopian tube as more then a highway for oocytes to transverse in their pathway to the uterus, coculturing of tubal cells along with gametes and embryos was introduced to the in vitro fertilization community. This report is an attempt to compile the research and results of those attempting to improve pregnancy rates by improving in vitro culture conditions via co-culture of cells with gametes and/or embryos.