CClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT04519918Updated Sep 1, 2020

Clinical Application of Artificial Oocyte Activation Technique (AOA) in ART

An interventional study of AOA in Fertilization, sponsored by Tang-Du Hospital. Status unknown at 1 site in China. Open to female participants aged 22 Years to 50 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-09-01.

Sponsored by Tang-Du Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Aug 2020), so the status shown — last known as Not yet recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
400
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
22 Years to 50 Years
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

Oocyte activation is an imperative stage in the initiation of embryo development during the fertilization. Indeed, the entrance of sperm into the oocyte causes sequences of calcium oscillations in its cytoplasm, regulating a series of molecular events called oocyte activation. The intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has allowed fertilization in couples with severe male factor infertility. But, there was still fertilization failure or low fertilization occurs in ICSI cycles. It has reported that insufficient of oocyte activation is the important cause of fertilization failure. Artificial oocyte activation (AOA) represents an effective technique, can restore the calcium oscillations to improve the fertilization. Here, the investigators explore the effective of different AOA methods including oocyte was injected CaCl2 or mechanical stimulated then treated with calcium ionophore.

Read the detailed description

The ICSI procedure improves fertilization rates in cases of male factor infertility. However, fertilization failure still occurs in 1-5% in ICSI cycles. The main cause of failed fertilization is failure to complete oocyte activation. Oocyte activation involves a multitude of molecular changes. The investigators use a variety of mechanical, electrical, and chemical methods to trigger the calcium oscillations necessary to activate oocytes. During mechanical activation of oocytes, oolemmas are pierced using a microneedle to trigger a calcium influx. Another method for mechanical oocyte activation is the direct microinjection of calcium into the oocyte to increase intracellular calcium. It has been described with the use of calcium ionophore A23187, which can mimic the natural pattern of calcium rise. Mechanical and chemical activation are the most commonly used methods for artificial oocyte activation, can mimic calcium oscillations resulting in successful fertilization. AOA, a highly specialized fertilization technique that can be added to conventional ICSI to overcome fertilization failure in patients that had failed fertilization or poor quality embryos history.

When the number of retrieved oocytes was >10, sibling oocytes were divided into 3 groups to perform the standard ICSI procedure (control group), chemical AOA (A1 experiment group) or mechanical AOA (A2 experiment group). When the number of retrieved oocytes was 6-10, sibling oocytes were randomized 1:1 to perform the chemical AOA (A1 experiment group) or mechanical AOA (A2 experiment group). The number of retrieved oocytes was 1-5, all oocytes were perform the chemical AOA. Control group, a single spermatozoon was injected into the ooplasm, standard ICSI procedure. A1 experiment group, were treated by injecting CaCl2 concurrently with ICSI followed by sequential exposure of calcium ionophore A23187 activation solution for two times of post-ICSI AOA. A2 experiment group, mechanical stimulation was done before standard ICSI procedure, then the oocytes were transferred into the calcium ionophore A23187 activation solution for two times of post-ICSI AOA. The investigators want to establish the effective and safe of different AOA methods, to improve the fertilization outcome and embryo quality, and finally obtain healthy offspring.

02

Conditions studied

  • Fertilization

Keywords

  • Fertilization failure
  • Artificial Oocyte Activation (AOA)
  • Calcium ionophore
  • Fertilization
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Tang-Du Hospital is the lead sponsor of 164 studies on the registry; 77 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
22 Years to 50 Years
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • The patients suffered at least one complete fertilization failure or low fertilization rate after performing standard ICSI in previous cycle. Low fertilization was defined as less than 33% fertilization rate.
  • The patients suffered at least 2 cycles complete fertilization failure or low fertilization rate after performing IVF in previous cycle. Low fertilization was defined as less than 33% fertilization rate.
  • The sperm of the patients has the following characteristics: globozoospermia, acrosomal deletion or small, severe head deformity, etc.
  • Sperm of testicular origin and/or sperm that has been freeze-thawed.
  • The sperm was PLC-ζ missing.
  • The MII oocytes were IVM cultured and/or freeze-thawed.
  • The patients suffered at least 2 cycles no available embryos, because of the embryo development block or fragmentation.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Normal fertilization IVF/ICSI cycles.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
400 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • No intervention
    Standard ICSI procedure

    a single spermatozoon was injected into the ooplasm.

  • Experimental
    Chemical oocyte activation

    After CaCl2 was injected, the oocytes were transferred into the calcium ionophore A23187 activation solution for two times of post-ICSI AOA.

    Behavioral: AOA

  • Experimental
    Mechanical oocyte activation

    Mechanical stimulation was done before standard ICSI procedure, then the oocytes were transferred into the calcium ionophore A23187 activation solution for two times of post-ICSI AOA.

    Behavioral: AOA

Interventions

  • BehavioralAOA

    AOA represents an invasive non-physiological technique.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Efficacy of AOA on fertilization

    Assess the normal fertilization rate (2PN rate)

    Time frame: 12 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Efficacy of AOA on embryo quality

    Assess the good-quality embryo rate

    Time frame: 12 months

  2. Efficacy of AOA on clinical outcome

    Assess the live-birth rate

    Time frame: 24 months

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Tangdu Hospital
    Xi'an, Shaanxi 710038, China
    • wang ming · Contact
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 1, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04519918
Lead sponsor
Tang-Du Hospital
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 20, 2020
Start date
Oct 1, 2020 (estimated)
Primary completion
Aug 31, 2021 (estimated)
Completion
Aug 31, 2022 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 1, 2020

Study contacts

Wang Ming, Master
Contact
wangmingbio@snnu.edu.cn
8613259809290
Li Bo, Doctor
study chair · Reproductive Medicine Center, Tangdu Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is status unknown, as verified in Aug 2020. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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