Serum-derived human serum albumin as a source of undeclared proteins and compositional variability in commercially available IVF media

ABSTRACT: Advanced mass spectrometry analysis showed that not only SCM but also unconditioned IVF medium contains a large number of undeclared proteins known to play roles in cellular regulatory pathways. To eliminate the impact of protein background in embryo-free media, SCM samples were normalized to corresponding controls. We observed no significant difference in the proteome fingerprint of individual embryos that developed to blastocyst and their cleavage stage-arrested siblings. Instead, we observed lot-to-lot variability in specific protein abundance. To test whether the protein composition variation can be attributed to the addition of a plasma-derived protein, we supplemented a protein-free medium with HSA of different origins. This experiment revealed that adding HSA purified from plasma introduces batch-related divergence in undeclared protein content, contributing to variability in the media's protein composition. In contrast, the analyzed contaminating proteins of human origin were undetectable after the addition of recombinant HSA, highlighting its potential as a alternative for embryo culture. The findings of this study indicate that the protein background in commercial IVF media is an overlooked variable in human embryo cultures, which compromises the reproducibility and interpretation of embryonic secretome analyses.

ORGANISM(S): Homo Sapiens

SUBMITTER: Marketa Nezvedova  

PROVIDER: PXD063038 | panorama | Thu Sep 18 00:00:00 BST 2025

REPOSITORIES: PanoramaPublic