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. ...

Improvements in in vitro maturation techniques have focused on culture optimization to increase oocyte maturation rates. Specialized culture media, now commercially available, did not perform significantly better than standard IVF culture media for maturation of immature oocytes in our normal IVF cases.

Background: Oocyte in vitro maturation success rate is still low in compareision to oocyte in vivo maturation. Thus prediction and improvement of oocyte competency are two critical issues in assisted reproductive technology. New insights into oocyte-cumulus cell regulatory loop may assist our optimization of in vitro maturation technique. Maturation and developmental competency of cumulus oocyt...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of a phosphodiesterase type 3 inhibitor in oocyte maturation medium on subsequent embryo development. DESIGN Animal study. SETTING University laboratory. ANIMAL(S) CD-1 mice. INTERVENTION(S) Immature oocytes were arrested meiotically in medium containing a specific phosphodiesterase type 3 inhibitor, cilostamide (1 micromol/L, 5 micromol/L, and 10 mic...

introduction: dehp [di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate)] is widely used in plastic industry and some reproductive toxicity has been shown with it. so, this study was designed to evaluate dehp effects on resumption of meiosis and in vitro maturation of mouse oocytes as well as development of embryos resulted from them. material and methods: mice of 4-6 weeks old were administered daily doses of 50, 100,...

Objective Crocin is an active ingredient of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) and its antioxidant properties have been previously investigated. This carotenoid scavenges free radicals and stimulates glutathione (GSH) synthesis; consequently, it may protect cells against oxidative stress. The aim of this research is to protect oocytes from oxidative stress by the addition of a natural source antioxida...

in traditional medicine, mentha spicata is widely used for many diseases, especially in  digestive system. it has anti-androgenic effects thus can be used by women experiencing polycystic ovary syndrome (pcos). also, it has shown to possess antioxidant properties. although beneficial, studies have shown its detrimental effect on some tissues. the present study was carried out to determine the e...

Intracellular Ca(2+) oscillations at fertilization are responsible for triggering egg activation. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the age of the oocyte donor and in-vitro maturation on the generation of Ca(2+) transients at fertilization. The results show that <10% of in-vivo and in-vitro matured oocytes from 19-day old mice develop to the blastocyst stage in vitro. In contra...

BACKGROUND Repeated in vitro Fertilization (IVF) failure together with Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) is one of the distressing situations leading couples to search for alternative treatment options. For such patients with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) who have experienced Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome, mild ovarian stimulation with in vitro oocyte maturation could be a promi...

Oocyte maturation in rodents is characterized by a dramatic reorganization of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and an increase in the ability of an oocyte to release Ca(2+) in response to fertilization or inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP(3)). We examined if human oocytes undergo similar changes during cytoplasmic meiotic maturation both in vivo and in vitro. Immature, germinal vesicle (GV)-stage ...