NEW research has spotlighted embryo metabolism analysis as a potential next-generation method for non-invasive embryo selection in IVF. By studying the nutrients consumed and released by embryos in their spent embryo culture media (SECM), researchers propose that metabolic profiling could complement existing tools such as morphology and genetics to improve implantation and pregnancy outcomes.
From nutrient turnover to predictive biomarkers
The review, led by AliReza Alizadeh Moghadam Masouleh and colleagues, analysed 49 studies conducted between 1989 and 2024 across 20 countries, evaluating how metabolic by-products in SECM correlate with embryo viability. The studies examined key energy sources, including glucose, pyruvate, amino acids (AAs), and fatty acids (FAs), as well as metabolomic signatures linked to blastocyst development, aneuploidy, and implantation success.
While findings consistently showed that embryos of higher developmental potential display distinct metabolic patterns, results varied due to differences in culture media composition, experimental design, and analytical methods. Eleven major manufacturers dominate the global market for embryo culture media, yet nutrient formulations remain largely undisclosed, posing a major challenge for standardisation.
Towards clinical translation
The authors call for unified guidelines for reporting metabolomic studies, including the minimum required information for SECM experiments. Standardising data collection and analysis could enable the identification of quantitative metabolic biomarkers to distinguish euploid from aneuploid and high-quality from poor-quality embryos.
The review also points to the future integration of multi-omics and artificial intelligence (AI) approaches, which could combine metabolic, genetic, and morphological data into comprehensive, non-invasive embryo assessment systems.
Reference
AliReza Alizadeh Moghadam Masouleh, Poopak Eftekhari-Yazdi, Amin Ebrahimi Sadrabadi, Reza Jafarzadeh Esfehani, Monica Tobler, Sven Schuchardt, Luca Gianaroli, Andreas Schmutzler, Embryo metabolism as a novel non-invasive preimplantation test: nutrients turn over and metabolomic analysis of human spent embryo culture media (SECM), Human Reproduction Update. 2025;31(5):405-44.
