Do serum AMH levels affect the incidence rate of multinucleated embryos in ICSI cycles?

Abstract

A blastomere containing more than one nucleus is defined as a multinucleated blastomere. In our study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels and multinucleated (MLN) embryos, one of the parameters indicating embryo quality, in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. The results of 888 ICSI cycles of patients aged 19-45 years attending an ART (assisted reproductive technology) clinic were retrospectively analysed. Cycles with at least one MLN embryo were defined as the study group (n = 237) and cycles without MLN embryos as the control group (n = 651). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to determine the risk factors affecting the dependent qualitative variables. The effect of AMH levels on multinucleation was found to be a significant risk factor (p < 0.001). One unit increase in AMH levels increases the risk of the presence of MLN embryos by 1.12 times. The mean MLN embryos/total embryo ratio in the group with clinical pregnancy was 0.34 ± 0.18, while the mean MLN embryos/total embryo ratio in the group that did not achieve clinical pregnancy was 0.47 ± 0.3 (p = 0.010). The presence of an MLN embryo has been associated with poor embryo development and ART outcomes. Parameters that can predict the formation of MLN embryos before treatment are crucial for the determination of the pregnancy rate. According to our results, serum AMH levels can be used as a predictive marker for the formation of MLN embryos.