Absence of Immunoreactive Cytokines in Supernatants of Individual Preimplantation Human Embryos

Abstract
PROBLEM: The purpose of this study was to determine if it was possible to use commercially available enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits to quantitate specific cytokine production from individual embryos. METHODS: We examined the supernatants of individual two to six cell preimplantation human embryos using commerically available kits for IL‐1 alpha, IL‐1 beta, IL‐6, and LIF. RESULTS: Cytokines were undetectable in all media samples analyzed. CONCLUSION: While it is possible that individual preimplantation embryos may produce cytokines, we believe these concentrations are below the detectable limits of the commercial assays used in this study.