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Embryo Freezing

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Embryo freezing is can be understood form the name is basically a process of preservation of the embryo at extremely low temperatures at the stage of embryogenesis which is the stage before implanting to the uterus of the females that is from the stage of fertilisation to the blastocyst stage. This procedure is also referred to as cryopreservation of the embryos. At KARE, we have the most experienced and qualified doctors who carry out the process in the best possible way so that the overall process is carried out without any kinds of interruptions. Most importantly, this process is extremely useful for the embryos that are leftover after a complete cycle of in vitro fertilisation.
KARE takes an extremely good care that all of the embryos that are leftover with the help of which the females fail to conceive might become pregnant by the use of such embryos without the need of having to once again go through a full or complete cycle of in vitro fertilisation. The spare or the leftover embryos as a result of the fertility treatments might be later used for donation of embryos to any other couple who wants to overcome infertility. Now, these spare embryos for being used later needs to be frozen and then stored appropriately which is referred to as embryo freezing.

Methods of Embryo Freezing

The ultimate aim of embryo freezing is nothing but preservation of the embryos so that they can be used later. The main problem that arises here is because of the presence of water in the cells. When the water freezes, it forms crystals and this expansion results in the bursting of the cells which in turn causes the death of the cells. To overcome this problem, the water present in the cells of the embryo is replaced with a substance which is protective in nature known as cryoprotectant. The embryos are left for incubation for the purpose of increasing the levels of cryoprotectant in them before they are finally frozen. After the removal of the water is done, the embryo is cooled down to the preservation state with the following two methods.

Slow Freezing

In this method of embryo freezing, the embryos are protected from being damage by putting them in sealed tubes and gradually lowering the temperature. This procedure helps in both prevention of aging as well as damage to the embryos. The embryos last for a long duration of time and remain fresh but the process requires a lot of time along with an expensive infrastructure which KARE has for effectively carrying out the procedure.

Vitrification

This process involves a very quick freezing of the cryoprotected embryos which does not allow the water molecules present in the embryos to form crystals. This readily helps in the protection of the embryos and at the same time enhances their rate of survival at the time of thawing.
After the completion of the freezing procedure, the embryos are appropriately stored in liquid nitrogen till the time they are required for use in the future.

Authored by Dr. Nirmal Krishnan