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Safety of Intracytoplasmic Sperm

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Chapter 26
Safety of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection
Gianpiero D. Palermo, Queenie V. Neri, and Zev Rosenwaks
Abstract
Early follow-up studies of IVF children showed that the frequency of birth anomalies resembled those
arising with natural conception. More detailed analyses confirmed these findings, reinforcing the concept
of the preimplantation period as teratologically safe. The use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
to achieve fertilization introduced another variable.
ICSIs safety has often been criticized because the fertilizing spermatozoon neither binds to the zona
pellucida nor fuses with oolemma. Bypassing these physiologic steps together with the arbitrary selection
of the spermatozoon has been reason for concern. Thus far, ICSI offspring undergoing adolescence and
beyond has provided sufficient information to reassure these qualms. In fact, the health of the offspring
generated through ICSI, once taken into consideration the gestational order, the age and the genetic
makeup of the couples are generally reassuring.
Key words ICSI, IVF, Children follow-up, Assisted reproductive technologies, Multiple gestation,
Birthweight, Gestational age

Safety of ART
It is likely that well over five million babies have been born
worldwide using assisted reproductive technologies (ART) [1].
The most important aspect of ART is the generation of healthy
offspring. Since IVFs early days [2, 3], the long-term health of
children born as a result of this procedure has been closely scrutinized. Though assisted reproduction treatments have rapidly
become largely standardized worldwide, the greatest variation in
ART procedures can be found in the use of different embryo culture
media and media protein supplements; the adoption of a variety of
different procedures for the collection, storage, and insemination
of gametes; and the generation and storage of conceptuses.
Early follow-up studies of IVF children showed that the
frequency of birth anomalies resembled those arising with natural
conception [3]. More detailed analyses confirmed these findings,
reinforcing the concept of the preimplantation period as

Zev Rosenwaks and Paul M. Wassarman (eds.), Human Fertility: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology,
vol. 1154, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-0659-8_26, Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

549

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Gianpiero D. Palermo et al.

teratologically safe. The use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection

(ICSI) [4] to achieve fertilization introduced another variable.
ICSIs safety has often been criticized because the fertilizing
spermatozoon neither binds to the zona pellucida nor fuses with
the oolemma. Calcium spiking and sperm decondensation in ICSI
fertilizations are also peculiar, and the claim of the persistence of
acrosomal vesicle may delay the decondensation of early paternal
pronucleus [5]. Nevertheless, despite these apparent risk factors,
birth anomaly rates were only slightly higher in children conceived
via ICSI in follow-up studies [6].
At present 24 % of children born in developed countries are
conceived through ART [7, 8], with ICSI being the most effective
means of treating couples with male factor infertility and previous
fertilization failures. In fact, even spermatozoa collected from the
epididymis and from the testis achieve comparable fertilization and
consistent pregnancy rates when used in conjunction with this
technique.

Genetic Disease Concern

As more and more men with severe oligospermia or azoospermia
become fathers via ART, the occasional association of these conditions with karyotypic anomalies or Y-chromosome microdeletions
has raised concerns as to whether ICSI facilitates the transmission
of genetic defects to these patients offspring. For instance, a higher
incidence of sperm aneuploidy in infertile men with secretory azoospermia [912] is expected to produce a higher frequency of
gonosomal abnormalities in the male progeny [13, 14], possibly
because of meiotic defects surfacing during male germ line maturation [15]. These offspring anomalies can also arise de novo, as was
indicated from an in-house genetic assessment of 5-year-old ICSI
children with a 3.6 % incidence of gonosomal abnormalities [16]
compared with 0.15 % incidence in a naturally conceived population [17]. In fact, based on current data and in agreement with the
literature, it appears that a deletion in the AZF region of the Y
chromosome presents in the male progeny alongside a compromised ability to produce spermatozoa [10, 18].
Expansion in the triplet repeat constituting the androgen
receptor (AR) gene has also been linked with spermatogenetic
defects [19]. However, our study confirmed that its maternal
transmission of the AR gene protects the male progeny generated
by infertile men from inheriting a dysfunctional AR gene, and
therefore from the genes eventual deleterious effect on spermatogenesis [20].
A different issue arises from the DNA fragmentation observed
in suboptimal spermatozoa, which could affect embryo development
and become a source of epigenetic disorders in phenotypically

Safety of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

551

normal offspring [21]. However, such fragmentation does not

seem to preclude the establishment of a pregnancy [22, 23], which
can possibly be attributed to the corrective role of single sperm
selection in the ICSI procedure [24, 25].

Follow-Up of Children Born After ART

Shorter gestations and lower birth weights have been noted in
assisted reproduction pregnancies, irrespective of the conception
method [26, 27] utilized. The basis for this could lie with the very
factors that are involved in the parents infertility [28], the fact that
a singleton may result from early in utero loss of a twin [29], or
that Caesarian deliveries of ART babies are often performed at the
slightest sign of fetal distress [30]. However, when we stratified
our data according to maternal age, singleton ICSI children had
the same mean gestational age and birth weight as those conceived
naturally [16]. Similarly, in the study of Lin et al. [31], levels of
neonatal distress, NICU admission, and congenital malformations
were comparable in both groups.
One unsettling investigation on the health of assisted reproduction offspring reported a twofold increase in major malformations [32]. However, this report failed to correct for maternal age,
other patient characteristics [33], the presence of male factor infertility [34], and in its abnormality classification methods [35].
Follow-up studies of ICSI children, beginning in the mid1990s, have revealed an incidence of malformations within the
expected range for the general population of New York State [36].
Another series comparing singleton ICSI children that were
matched for maternal age with naturally conceived children displayed no difference in neonatal outcomes [31]. A recent series
investigating the outcomes of neonates generated by different
assisted conception procedures, ICSI versus IVF with conventional
fertilization, provided further confirmation of the expected rate of
malformation [37].
Bowen and colleagues [38] evaluated the medical and developmental state of 1-year-old children born after ICSI or IVF as
well as after natural conceptions. They found that most 1-year-old
ICSI children were healthy and were developing normally, as measured by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. However, about
17 % displayed an increase in learning difficulties compared with
those conceived by IVF or naturally. A later report dismissing this
concern in 2-year-old ICSI toddlers [39] inspired a follow-up
study in 3 year olds. This age was chosen because mental development scores collected at 2.5 years are more predictive of mental
performance in later life [40]. Moreover, in screening for a larger
number of children using parent-administered questionnaires, it
was found that the great majority of the 3-year-old children

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Gianpiero D. Palermo et al.

analyzed in the ICSI and IVF groups had normal cognitive abilities,
socio-emotional development, and motor skill scores. This could
not be confirmed for children from high-order gestations, however, as more frequent cognitive delays are observed in this group
than in children resulting from singleton pregnancies, regardless of
the conception method [41]. Interestingly, ICSI children whose
fathers spermatozoa were harvested surgically appeared to score
better than those conceived with ejaculated spermatozoa [42]. In
a German follow-up study of 5- and 10-year-old children, researchers found that the child's capacity in two different cognitive styles,
sequential versus simultaneous mental processing, as measured by
the Kaufman Assessment of Battery for Children, fell within the
normal range for both IVF and ICSI children [43]. However, children born after standard IVF had better simultaneous mental processing than ICSI children (P < 0.005). In a different follow-up of
10-year-old children, it was found that ICSI and their naturally
conceived counterparts had similar motor skills and IQ [44].
Because of the confounding role of multiple gestations, it was
then decided to assess singleton births at 5 years of age as part of a
multicenter international investigation. Although this studys
results revealed no differences in the full scale IQ between ICSI
and naturally conceived children, parents of naturally conceived
children surprisingly displayed higher levels of distress and dysfunctional child interactions, and children appeared to be more difficult
compared with those conceived by ICSI parents (P < 0.05) [45].
This study also revealed that ICSI children were indeed characterized by a lower birth weight (P < 0.05) and also by a higher proportion of major malformations (P < 0.05) than their naturally
conceived counterparts. The higher proportion of affected children was concentrated in the Belgian surveys [13]. Another study
comprising 1,500 children from five European countries failed to
show a higher incidence of major malformation in the assisted
reproduction group compared with the naturally conceived group
despite a clear difference in their parental age [46]. The same
Brussels group evidenced a malformation rate of 10.0 % versus
3.4 % in the same cohort of naturally conceived children once they
reached 8 years of age [47]. These three additional malformations
consisted of an inguinal hernia and two nevus flammeus that
required only minor surgical corrections. Interestingly, when the
same ICSI progeny were reassessed for physical and intellectual
performances at 10 years of age, their state matched that of a
similar natural conception group [44]. In another follow-up study,
ICSI, IVF, and naturally conceived neonates were assessed for perinatal outcome, health, growth, and medical care needs. While the
authors observed that ICSI and IVF children's developmental
outcome were comparable, ICSI children had poorer perinatal
outcome in comparison to their naturally conceived counterparts
(P < 0.05) [48]. A recent survey on neonates demonstrated that

Safety of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

553

ICSI children born after the use of surgically retrieved spermatozoa

had, however, a higher incidence of cardiac defects in comparison
to ICSI using ejaculated sperm and those that are spontaneously
conceived [49].

Epigenetic Concerns
Questions have been posed about the effect of embryo culture
media on the health of assisted reproduction children and whether
the extended embryo culture can induce imprinting disorders [50].
Some reports have claimed an association of Angelman syndrome
with assisted reproduction; however, assessment of the q1113
locus of chromosome 15 has not revealed any methylation abnormalities. Although the inability to detect any methylation abnormalities in this locus may be attributed to some assay variability
[51], a clear link between the occurrence of Angelman syndrome
and PraderWilli syndrome with assisted conception has not been
confirmed [52]. Thus, some studies claimed that the association of
imprinting disorders and assisted reproduction is tentative and that
use of ART carries an absolute risk that may be negligible [53].
Moreover, even in the loss of methylation/imprinting, parental
alleles can retain their parent-of-origin-dependent specificity, possibly through other epigenetic phenomenon such as histone modifications [54]. The quantification of the relative expression of some
key developmental imprinted genes using fetal adnexa of assisted
reproduction offspring revealed imbalances insufficient to cause
any clinical manifestation [55].
The fact that nonsymptomatic anomalies of gene expression
are indeed present and detectable in placental tissues [56] of
assisted reproduction offspring underscores the need to continue
monitoring the influence of reproductive techniques on the conceptus. These variations in gene expression have also been noted in
a study of a transgenic mouse strain characterized by its high sensitivity to oxidative insults, in which assisted conception procedures
such as in vitro insemination or ICSI did not affect the phenotype
in comparison with natural mating [57]. Although this study
excludes the conception methods as being potentially responsible
for altering offspring epigenetics, other common steps used in the
assisted reproduction protocols need to be evaluated. While
imprinting imbalances may be a consequence of simple embryo
manipulations such as embryo transfer procedures, their incidence
seems to be most dependent upon the in vitro culture used.
In vitro culture appears to exert more serious imprinting imbalances, characterized by loss of paternal methylation of H19 and
consequent reduction in expression in the same allele of IGF2 [58].
H19 and IGF2s interdependence results from the binding of
the repressor factor CTCF (CCCTC-binding factor zinc finger

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protein, human transcriptional repressor mRNA) to the unmethylated

differential methylation regions (DMR), which then prevents the
H19/IGF2 common enhancers from activating the IGF2 promoter
[59, 60]. This contrasts with the normal scenario of a paternal
allele, whose H19 is methylated and silenced, whereas the reciprocally linked IGF2 gene is actively transcribed. The Rivera study
[58] reported that downregulation of H19 in the assisted reproduction population occurred without a concurrent overexpression
of IGF2. Although this could be an occasional finding, it may point
to a subliminal deleterious effect of the in vitro culture conditions
on the preferentially expressed maternal genes H19 and CDKN1C.
The observed downregulation of these genes was clearly isolated
and insufficient to induce an upregulation of the preferentially
expressed paternal genes, and therefore, was incapable of projecting
their negative effect on the offspring phenotype. This minor imbalance is confirmed by the difference in the measurement of whole
genome analysis and the distribution of gene expression. The two
conception methods seem to share a comparable, analogous gene
pattern that is somewhat different from naturally conceived children,
also seen in the above-mentioned experimental work [57].
A survey of 1,000 British families raising children afflicted with
transient neonatal diabetes mellitus, PraderWilli syndrome,
Angelman syndrome, or BeckwithWiedemann syndrome showed
that only the latter, where H19 downregulation plays a pivotal role,
appeared to maintain an association with assisted reproduction [52].
That the maternal genes H19 and CDKN1C are involved with
imprinting disorders in assisted reproduction children independent
of the insemination method suggests that the spermatozoon or the
fertilization technique itself is not the main culprit. This, however,
was not confirmed during an analysis of moderate and severe oligozoospermic men who displayed a loss of methylation of the H19
gene [61]. Other authors observed methylation imbalances of
paternal genes such as HUMARA and SNPRN during seminiferous tubule spermatogenesis where a partial methylation of
HUMARA in non-obstructive azoospermia was detected [62]. A
later study established a complete loss of methylation of the paternal H19 and a concurrent hypermethylation of paternally expressed
MEST in men with spermatozoa concentration of 10 106/ml
[63]. These imprinting defects are identifiable in individuals with
disrupted spermatogenesis and worsen in conjunction with the
severity of the spermatogenic failure. Erroneous methylation of
these genes could be due to the erasure of methylation marks during germline development or could be acquired de novo, either
during the formation of the spermatozoa in the seminiferous
tubules or through abnormal epididymal function [64]. This suggests that genomic imprinting defects might underlie infertility by
itself [63] again carrying a significant risk of causing biallelic inactivation of the IGF2 gene in the human embryo consequent to a
biallelic expression of the linked H19. However, different patterns

Safety of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

555

of sperm methylation may occur in the same patient, allowing

spermatozoa with severe imprinting errors to coexist with sperm
with normal imprinting marks. This fact suggests that misregulation leading to error in the establishment of imprinting marks is
not necessarily widespread throughout the seminiferous tubules
[63]. Accordingly, abnormal methylation patterns of imprinted
genes in cases with disrupted spermatogenesis might be derived
from different imprinting marks in the adult testicular germinal
stem cell pool, from defects occurring during progenitor diploid
germ cell expansion, or during haploid germ cell differentiation [63].
In fact, by analyzing methylation characteristics of SNRPN and
H19 genes, other investigators did not confirm the finding even in
spermatogenetically compromised seminiferous tubules [65]. This
is supported by the observation of these disorders in association
with standard in vitro insemination, where spermatogenesis is presumably not compromised, and points at factors in play at conception or during early embryo development that may be attributable
to the exposure to culture medium [58, 66, 67].
On the other hand, since imprinting defects occur more
frequently as a function of the number of assisted reproduction
cycles, hormonal treatments rather than laboratory procedures
may be to blame [53, 68, 69]. This suggests that the main risk of
epigenetic diseases after assisted reproduction might be oocyterelated. This is consistent with the finding that the only identifiable
common factor in 12 BeckwithWiedemann syndrome (BWS)
children conceived by different reproductive techniques was ovarian stimulation [53, 65, 70, 71]. In fact, in a case report of two
BWS children born to the same parents, one child was conceived
naturally (after exposure to ovarian stimulation) and one child via
standard IVF. This case suggests that both infertility and ovarian
stimulation are possible risk factors for imprinting disorders [72].
Since some assisted reproduction procedures have been implicated in various adverse outcomes of the offspring, basic research
is required to elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying the
genetic and epigenetic effects of assisted reproduction. In addition,
it is important for clinicians to precisely record the assisted reproduction procedures including the stimulation protocol, method of
embryo culture, culture media used, and timing of embryo transfer. As it is not yet possible to precisely evaluate the consequences
of assisted reproduction on imprinting, long-term, large-scale epidemiological projects and follow-up studies that could estimate the
magnitude of the risks posed by assisted reproduction on human
pregnancies are sorely needed.
While multiple case reports and case series have suggested an
association between imprinting disorders and ART, recent cohort
studies have failed to confirm the association [73]. Taking all of
these studies into consideration, the current data suggest an association between imprinting disorders and ART that carries a low
absolute incidence risk.

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Gianpiero D. Palermo et al.

Prepubertal and Pubertal Development

A British follow-up study of young ART children identified that
IVF and ICSI children were comparable to naturally conceived
adolescents counterparts in terms of head circumference, height,
and weight at any time point analyzed from birth, 5 years,
79 years, and 1012 years [74]. Results from another survey,
completed by parents, suggested that 5- and 7-year-old ART children had higher risks of respiratory problems characterized by
asthma, wheezing, or taking anti-asthmatic medication when
compared to children conceived naturally or after ovulation induction [75]. When Leydig cell function of pubertal boys aged 14
years resulting from ICSI was assessed, either through venous
puncture or saliva sampling, testosterone concentrations were
comparable to naturally conceived boys [76, 77]. In another series
of investigations, the same researchers monitored pubertal development by Tanner stage (breast, genital, and pubic hair development) and age at menarche, in singleton born ICSI boys and girls,
and did not observe any obvious differences in sexual development in ICSI adolescents compared to their 14-year-old spontaneously conceived counterparts, except for less pronounced breast
development in ICSI females [78]. Finally, adiposity and body fat
distribution were also measured in these 14-year-old adolescents.
No differences in body composition measurements were found
between ICSI and the control cohort. However, in boys with
more advanced pubertal stages, there was a higher sum of peripheral skinfolds. In addition, the peripheral adiposity and body fat
percentage of ICSI girls were significantly higher than their spontaneously conceived counterparts [78].
Overall, studies of children ranging from newborn to 14 years
of age [43, 44, 47, 48, 7477] have been reassuring in terms of
perinatal outcome, IQ, and physical development [79]. Further
follow-up on ICSI teenagers into adulthood should be continued
to evaluate the reproductive capacity of these youngsters.

Counseling Infertile Couples About Risks

Once the ART option is offered to a couple in our practice, choosing a specific method of insemination is a complex decision because
of the looming chances of failed fertilization due to subtle factors
conferred by both gametes. This pressure on infertility specialists
may induce them to bypass the academic approach and directly target a microinsemination method, as ICSI may spare the couple the
emotional and financial costs related to fertilization failure. While
ICSI was developed to address specific defects of the male gamete, it
is now mastered worldwide and is effective in a variety of contexts.

Safety of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

557

ICSI is equally effective with fresh or frozen sperm specimens

as well as ejaculated or surgically retrieved spermatozoa. Further,
the procedures utility is independent of the characteristics of the
semen parameters or the presence of antisperm antibodies.
Moreover, ICSIs dependability has broadened its initial use
from a technique capable of overriding the dysfunctionality of
spermatozoa to one that may partly compensate for problems with
the egg. Indeed, ICSI has allowed successful fertilizations when
only few and/or abnormal oocytes were available because it allows
direct visualization of oocyte maturation by stripping cumulus cells
from the oocytes. In fact, the availability of ICSI has been instrumental in some European countries, including Italy and Germany,
in circumventing restrictive legislation that limits the number of
oocytes inseminated or embryos to be replaced.
ICSI has also been instrumental in fertilizing cryopreserved
oocytes which otherwise are resistant to natural sperm penetration
due to zona pellucida hardening resulting from premature exocytosis
of cortical granules. Furthermore, ICSI is the preferred conception
method during the application of preimplantation genetic diagnosis
since it avoids contamination of the zona with sperm DNA, thus
increasing the number of embryos available for screening.
Moreover, ICSI has an impact in the arena of HIV infection.
While many patients infected with HIV-1 show interest in beginning
a family, most serodiscordant couples are concerned with the
possibility of both horizontal and vertical transmission of the virus.
In such cases, intrauterine insemination with spermatozoa processed by double gradient centrifugation followed by swim up has
been the suggested method of treating serodiscordant couples
with an HIV-1 infected male partner. The use of ICSI in this
context has been proposed by several groups because of its
negligible oocyte exposure to semen, thereby reducing the risk of
viral transmission.
ICSI has been so effective, in fact, that we can now use any
spermatozoa collected from different sources within the male
reproductive system, can be less concerned about the presence of
antisperm antibodies and sperm preparation method utilized, and
even disregard morphology, acrosome presence, abnormal chromatin packing, or the lack of a complete flagellum or display poor
motility. ICSIs use seems destined only to increase, particularly
with the introduction of streamlined and automated approaches to
in vitro insemination.
It is because of ICSI that we reap most of the benefits related
to this entirely different way of generating a conceptus. In fact,
the removal of the cumulus cells to allow sperm injection offers a
window to assess the maturity of oocytes and pinpoint the exact
timing of fertilizations beginning. This also provides us with
information on the efficacy of specific ovarian stimulation protocols, which may be particularly helpful as we strive to reduce the

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stress to the ovary and minimize the number of oocytes retrieved

while optimizing their quality. Abnormal ICSI fertilizations have
helped us to shed light on the inheritance of the centrosome, as
previously elucidated.
ICSI has been invaluable in understanding the mechanism of
oocyte activation, whether due to ooplasmic asynchrony or a lack
of spermatozoal cytosolic factor. The use of ICSI has generated a
great deal of concern since it may increase the risk of transmitting
genetic diseases to the offspring, as confirmed by studies reporting
on the higher incidence of sex chromosomal aneuploidy of paternal origin and structural de novo chromosomal abnormalities in
children conceived after ICSI compared to the general population.
These reports indicated that men with spermatogenic impairment
due to a primitive testiculopathy have an increased sperm
aneuploidy rate, which negatively correlates with the main sperm
parameters despite a normal somatic karyotype. This suggests that
the noxae acting at the testicular level not only impairs spermatogenesis but also affects the molecular mechanisms involved in
chromosomal segregation.
In spite of these unsettling implications, ICSI offspring resulting from a singleton pregnancy are in general reassuringly healthy.
Normal, healthy offspring also result when surgically retrieved
samples or when scarce sperm cells with prohibitive morphology
are injected.
It is our belief that during consultation with infertile couples
presenting with borderline semen parameters, where there are
dubious chances of fertilizing a conceptus, or when it is foreseen
that the individuals may not be able to emotionally handle an
unexpected fertilization failure, ICSI should not be denied. As in
all aspects of medicine the counseling begins with the description
of the side effects of medications, the surgical risks linked to egg
retrieval, and the possibility of transmission of genetic disorders
(even if currently unknown to the prospective parents) related to
the oocyte or the sperm. Nonetheless, the chances of a de novo
appearance of a disorder resulting from the syngamy of the two
parental gametes should also be discussed. The concerns related to
the health of ICSI offspring are not linked to the procedure itself,
but mostly to the genetic or epigenetic conditions of the parents
that is later expressed through the union of their gametes.
In summary, the most important factor that can lead to adverse
outcomes in offspring conceived by IVF or ICSI is the occurrence
of high-order pregnancies. However, the introduction of single
embryo transfer has reduced this considerably. Although perinatal
outcomes such as prematurity, low birth weight, perinatal mortality, and increased incidence of malformations have been linked to
the techniques of IVF and ICSI, infertility itself seems to be the
larger issue that leads to negative clinical outcomes. Overall, no
significant long-term neurodevelopmental differences have been

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559

found in connection with ART, though the risks associated with

childhood cancer and future fertility still require further
investigation.

Acknowledgements
We are very appreciative to all clinicians and scientists at The
Ronald O. Perelman & Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive
Medicine and the Urology Department.
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