Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a pregnancy biomarker, and five forms of this hormone are involved in female physiological regulation. β-core fragment hCG (bcf-hCG) is a fragment of hCG whose biological role in female reproduction has not been completely elucidated. This study aimed to investigate its role in embryo implantation and maintenance of a pregnancy-supportive environment. We analyzed the protein expression pattern of bcf-hCG in the intrauterine environment during early pregnancy by performing western blotting and immunohistochemistry with a monoclonal anti-bcf-hCG antibody. We performed a cell proliferation assay in the presence of bcf-hCG compared with intact hCG. We conducted an ex vivo study by performing intrauterine injection of bcf-hCG or intact hCG in mice. Endometrial thickness was measured using histological methods, and uterine gene and protein expression were analyzed following intrauterine injection of bcf-hCG. We evaluated the effect of bcf-hCG on embryo implantation in the uterus. bcf-hCG was highly abundant in the placenta and epithelial stromal glands of the uterine endometrium during early pregnancy and significantly induced proliferation of a stromal epithelial cell line. Intrauterine injection of bcf-hCG induced expression of specific genes and proteins, including homeobox A10, for embryo implantation and placental development. Upon embryo transfer, the implantation rate of bcf-hCG-treated embryos was higher than that of control embryos. In conclusion, bcf-hCG plays a role in the proliferation of glandular epithelial cells in the endometrium and placenta during early pregnancy. Therefore, bcf-hCG is an early-phase pregnancy biomarker that maintains the initial phase of pregnancy.

Background/Objectives: Male factor infertility contributes to approximately 40–50% of infertility cases globally, yet traditional laboratory-based semen analysis often imposes logistical and psychological barriers. This study aimed to evaluate the analytical performance and diagnostic concordance of a novel smartphone-based point-of-care testing (POCT) system, Hagobogo Pro, compared with a laboratory-based computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) reference system. Methods: This retrospective validation study analyzed 520 video microscopy clips obtained from 104 men undergoing infertility evaluation at a tertiary fertility center. Following World Health Organization (WHO) 2021 guidelines, sperm concentration and total motility were measured using the Hagobogo Pro smartphone device and the reference system. Analytical performance was assessed based on intra-assay precision, operational time, and method agreement using Passing–Bablok regression, Bland–Altman analysis, and Spearman correlation. Results: The smartphone-based system demonstrated strong analytical agreement with the CASA reference, with high correlations observed for sperm concentration (ρ = 0.943) and motility (ρ = 0.7335). Bland–Altman analysis indicated minimal systematic bias, and intra-assay precision showed coefficients of variation below 6%. There were no statistically significant differences in mean parameters between the smartphone device, CASA, and manual assessment. Conclusions: The Hagobogo Pro platform enables rapid, reliable, and standardized sperm concentration and motility quantification, and results showed good agreement with laboratory CASA. While not a replacement for holistic laboratory evaluations, this technology improves access to preliminary male fertility screening and may empower patients by mitigating barriers to initial testing.

Poor embryo quality is a major cause of poor clinical outcomes in assisted reproductive medicine, and there are no currently available interventions that can improve embryo quality. Mitochondria dysfunction is linked to low-quality female gametes and zygotes. Previously, microtubule integrity was also associated with mitochondrial function in oocytes. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the microtubule stabilizers (MTS) Taxol and Epothilone D (EpD) and the microtubule disturber (MTD) vinorelbine on mouse preimplantation embryo quality and pregnancy outcome compared with non-treatment controls. We prepared young BDF1 mice (7~9 weeks old) and cultured preimplantation embryos with MTS or MTD. Mitochondrial functional activity and embryo development ratios including pregnancy ratios were then assessed. MTS-treated embryos showed significantly increased mitochondrial membrane potentials and motility. Blastocyst formation was significantly higher in MTS-treated embryos than in MTD-treated embryos. Especially, MTS-treated embryos exhibited higher hatched blastocyte formation than untreated embryos. The number of offspring was significantly higher in surrogate mice transplanted with MTS-treated embryos. These findings demonstrated that the treatment of mouse preimplantation embryos with Taxol or EpD increased embryo development competence, which was associated with increased mitochondrial functional activity. Consistently, delivery ratios were significantly higher after transplantation with MTS-treated embryos than after transplantation with untreated embryos. These findings suggest that MTS could be used to supplement in vitro culture media to promote the recovery of poor-quality embryos.

Poor embryo quality is a major cause of poor clinical outcomes in assisted reproductive medicine, and there are no currently available interventions that can improve embryo quality. Mitochondria dysfunction is linked to low-quality female gametes and zygotes. Previously, microtubule integrity was also associated with mitochondrial function in oocytes. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the microtubule stabilizers (MTS) Taxol and Epothilone D and the microtubule disturber (MTD) vinorelbine on mouse preimplantation embryo quality and pregnancy outcome. We prepared young BDF1 mice (7~9 weeks old) and cultured preimplantation embryos with MTS or MTD. Mitochondrial functional activity and embryo development ratios including pregnancy ratios were then assessed. MTS-treated embryos showed significantly increased mitochondrial membrane potentials and motility. Blastocyst formation was significantly higher in MTS-treated embryos than in MTD-treated embryos. Especially, MTS-treated embryos exhibited higher hatched blastocyte formation than untreated embryos. The number of offspring was significantly higher in surrogate mice transplanted with MTS-treated embryos. These findings demonstrated that treatment of mouse preimplantation embryos with Taxol or EpD increased embryo development competence, which was associated with increased mitochondrial functional activity. Consistently, delivery ratios were significantly higher after transplantation with MTS-treated embryos than after transplantation with untreated embryos. These findings suggest that MTS could be used to supplement in vitro culture media to promote the recovery of poor-quality embryos.