Patent ID: 8143060

Claim:
A method for differentiating between developmentally competent and arresting Grade I embryos, said method comprising: (i) incubating a Grade I embryo in a culture medium comprising a plurality of amino acids; (ii) determining an increase or decrease in concentration of at least one amino acid in the culture medium to determine amino acid turnover, wherein said at least one amino acid is selected from the group consisting of alanine, arginine, glutamine, glycine, glutamate, tryptophan and lysine, as compared to pre-culture medium; and (iii) selecting a developmentally competent Grade I embryo in the culture medium of step (ii), wherein said culture medium has a higher or lower concentration of at least one of said at least one amino acids, and wherein a lower amino acid turnover of said at least one amino acids is associated with the developmentally competent Grade I embryo of step (iii) and said developmentally competent Grade I embryo has an increased possibility of development to the blastocyst stage and/or successful implantation.