Effect of Incubation Time and Serum Concentration on the Number of Mitoses in Aspirated Villi Samples

Chromosome preparations by direct method may be performed either immediately after chorionic villi sampling or after incubation at 37 °C in a CO2 incubator with complete medium (Simoni et al. 1983,1984). In order to define the optimal conditions for fetal chromosome study, we investigated the effects of different incubation times and serum concentrations on the number of mitoses. We found that 2 days’ incubation before processing aspirated villi specimens and a low concentration of serum result in a significant increase in the number of dividing cells in the Langhans’ layer. The introduction of both of these modifications in the preparation of specimens by the direct method may be advantageous in the diagnostic use of first trimester chorionic villi samples.