Improved oncological treatments permit increased survival rates, although cancer patients remain at risk of losing ovarian function. An attractive option for fertility preservation includes the use of immature oocytes, a strategy which can occur on a rapid timeline and without hormonal stimulation. As a result, cancer therapy can proceed promptly even in patients with hormone-sensitive tumors. ...

Oocyte cryopreservation has encompassed various technical difficulties and thus remained a challenge to many cryobiologists. The effect of three widely used cryoprotectants and two cryopreservation techniques on the post thaw recovery rate of morphologically normal sheep oocyte, their fertilizability and developmental competence were analyzed. Ethylene glycol, propylene glycol and Dimethyl Sulf...

Oocyte cryopreservation is of key importance in the preservation and propagation of germplasm. Interest in oocyte cryopreservation has increased in recent years due to the application of assisted reproductive technologies in farm animals such as in vitro fertilization, nuclear transfer and the need for the establishment of ova/gene banks worldwide. However, the cryopreservation of the female ga...

Oocytes cryopreservation represents a very promising tool for medicine and preservation of animal genetic resources. Assessment of oocytes viability after cryopreservation is often based on structural and developmental criteria whereas metabolism of thawed oocytes is not frequently studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of slow freezing and vitrification methods on the ATP co...

BACKGROUND Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients are at increased risk of pregnancy complications, which may impair pregnancy outcome. Transfer of fresh embryos after superovulation may lead to abnormal implantation and placentation and further increase risk for pregnancy loss and complications. Some preliminary data suggest that elective embryo cryopreservation followed by frozen-thawed em...

BACKGROUND The aim of this work was to examine the effect of 1,2-propanediol (PrOH) and type of cryopreservation procedure (slow freezing and vitrification) on oocyte physiology. METHODS Intracellular calcium of mouse metaphase II (MII) oocytes was quantified by fluorescence microscopy. The effect of PrOH on cell physiology was further assessed through analysis of zona pellucida hardening and...

Sperm cryopreservation and increasingly oocyte cryopreservation are common forms of fertility preservation for oncology patients facing gonadotoxic therapy. Both procedures present challenging ethical issues with regard to informed consent, given that the context for these procedures is a disease that carries a significant risk of mortality. We argue that the current consent process does not al...

It is well known that maternal ageing not only causes increased spontaneous abortion and reduced fertility, but it is also a high genetic disease risk. Although assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have been widely used to treat infertility, the overall success is still low. The main reasons for age-related changes include reduced follicle number, compromised oocyte quality especially aneu...

17 Introduction 18 Ovarian stimulation 20 In vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) 23 Immature sperm conception 25 Egg donation and surrogacy 28 Oocyte maturation 28 Embryo culture 30 Assisted hatching 31 Cryopreservation 32 Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) 34 Cytoplasmic donation and mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) transfer 37 Fertility preservation 39 Conclusion 41