title: The spindle observation and its relationship with fertilization after intracytoplasmic sperm injection in living human oocytes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To image spindles in living human oocytes and to examine the relation between spindles and fertilization after ICSI.
  
  
  METHODS
  The LC polscope was used to examine spindles in an observational study of living oocytes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Academic IVF clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women being treated for infertility.
  
  
  METHODS
  Oocytes retrieved from patients for infertility treatment were examined before ICSI. Aged, unfertilized oocytes after IVF or ICSI were examined with polscope and confocal microscopes to compare the two methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  Spindle structure in living oocytes and fertilization after ICSI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Spindles could be imaged in 61.4% of oocytes. More oocytes with spindles than oocytes without spindles fertilized normally after ICSI (61.8% vs. 44.2%). Spindles in most aged oocytes were partially or completely disassembled, and only a few microtubules around the chromosomes or dispersed microtubules in the cytoplasm were observed. Confocal images of immunostained spindles were almost identical to polscope images of spindle birefringence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Spindles in living human oocytes can be imaged by using the polscope. A birefringent spindle in human oocytes may clinically predict the quality and age of oocytes. This method also can be used to monitor spindle position during ICSI.
authors.affiliation: Division of Reproductive Medicine and Infertility, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, 101 Dudley Street, Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island 02905-2499, USA.
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hackett
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Odenbourg
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Keefe
mesh_terms: D016922:Cellular Senescence; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D008540:Meiosis; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization; D009865:Oocytes / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic; D008941:Spindle Apparatus