{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T01:55:07Z","timestamp":1790906107399,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"The Korean Society for Reproductive Medicine","content-domain":{"domain":["ecerm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Clin Exp Reprod Med"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Objective: This study aimed to determine whether localized humidification within a dry incubator could mitigate increased osmotic pressure in the culture medium and improve embryo development and clinical outcomes.Methods: In vitro culture and pregnancy outcomes were retrospectively compared between a dry incubator group (K-dry) and a conventional humidified incubator group (WJ). In addition, a K-humidified group was prospectively established by adding 4 mL of human tubal fluid medium outside the wells in a dry incubator to assess whether localized humidification improved outcomes compared with conventional dry conditions.Results: In the two-group comparison, the WJ group had significantly higher rates of good-morphology day 3 embryos, blastocyst formation, and good-morphology blastocysts than the K-dry group (p&lt;0.05). In multivariate analysis, dry culture conditions were independently associated with poorer developmental outcomes. In the three-group comparison, the K-humidified group had a significantly higher rate of good-morphology day 3 embryos than the K-dry group (p=0.011) and did not differ significantly from the WJ group. Clinical pregnancy and ongoing pregnancy rates did not differ significantly across the study groups.Conclusion: Dry culture conditions may compromise embryo quality through osmotic stress. Localized humidification within a dry incubator was associated with improved early embryo development and increased the number of embryos suitable for transfer or cryopreservation, with comparable performance to a conventional humidified incubator. However, once embryos reached a transferable blastocyst stage, implantation potential appeared to be driven primarily by intrinsic embryo competence rather than by the prior culture environment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.5653\/cerm.2025.08844","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T01:45:51Z","timestamp":1790905551000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5653\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Humidified culture in a dry incubator improves culture performance"],"prefix":"10.5653","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8692-3209","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Mako","family":"Goto","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Kusuhara Women\u2019s Clinic, Tokyo, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Osamu","family":"Okitsu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kusuhara Women\u2019s Clinic, Tokyo, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kohei","family":"Mizuno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kusuhara Women\u2019s Clinic, Tokyo, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Atsuko","family":"Kusuhara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kusuhara Women\u2019s Clinic, Tokyo, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Koji","family":"Kusuhara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kusuhara Women\u2019s Clinic, Tokyo, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"3624","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]]},"container-title":["Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/ecerm.org\/upload\/pdf\/cerm-2025-08844.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T01:45:57Z","timestamp":1790905557000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/ecerm.org\/journal\/view.php?doi=10.5653\/cerm.2025.08844"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5653\/cerm.2025.08844","relation":{},"ISSN":["2233-8233","2233-8241"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2233-8233","type":"print"},{"value":"2233-8241","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2025-10-22","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-02-17","order":1,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-10-02","order":2,"name":"published","label":"Published online","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}