co-culture

I have been coming across the term co-culture in reading about ivf cycles. What is co=culture? Do different labs use different "culture" that the embryos grow in? Have their been advancements or studies lately about this?

Co-culture can mean several things. In the early days of IVF when culture mediums weren't as effective as they are today, embryos were sometimes cultured on a layer of cells recovered from tubal cell lines or uterine cell lines because it was believed that these other cells could produce growth factors or other helpful substances. It was more difficult to establish a good culture system with several cell types and this tedious and not terribly effective method was abandoned when better culture medias were developed. Also, there was always a concern that other cells from cell lines could be infected with viruses and could infect the growing embryos. You can find more explanation of co-culture at this site Coculture for IVF Carole

Thank you Carole!