An Atlas of Human Blastocysts

List of contributing authors 7
Foreword 9
Preface 11
Acknowledgements 14
1 Overview of early human preimplantation development in vitro
15
2 Metabolic requirements during preimplantation development and
the formulation of culture media 41
3 Human morulae in vitro 61
4 Cell allocation and differentiation 83
5 Human blastocysts in vitro 99
6 Preembryo selection and blastocyst quality: how to choose the
optimal conceptus for transfer 139
7 Blastocyst hatching 159
8 Blastocyst cryopreservation and thawing 173
9 Cell death (apoptosis) in human blastocysts 185
10 Human implantation 203
11 Human embryonic stem cells 213
12 The mammalian blastocyst as an experimental model 231
13 The moral status of the human blastocyst 251
Glossary of terms 259
Abbreviations and symbols used for embryology documentation 272
Index 275