Oocyte vitrification: advances, progress and future goals.
BACKGROUND
Recent advances in vitrification technology have markedly improved the efficacy of oocyte cryopreservation in terms of oocyte survival and pregnancy, as well as live birth rates. However, there still remains room for improvement in terms of vitrification techniques.


OBJECTIVE
The remaining challenges include the development of a less cytotoxic vitrification solution and of a safe vitrification device in order to have vitrification techniques considered as a standard clinical laboratory procedure.


METHODS
A systematic electronic literature search strategy has been conducted using PubMed (Medline) databases with the use of the following key words: oocyte, vitrification, cryoprotectant, preservation, pregnancy, and live birth. A list of published papers focused on the improvement of vitrification techniques to have the vitrification protocol standardized have been evaluated in full text for this review. Only key references were cited.


CONCLUSIONS
Vitrification technology has made significant advancements and holds great promise, but many issues remains to be addressed before it becomes a standardized procedure in clinical laboratories such as the fact that oocyte vitrification may not require a high concentration of cryoprotectant in the vitrification solution when it has a suitable cooling and warming rate. There is also no consistent evidence that indicates the absence of risk to the vitrified oocytes when they are stored for a prolonged period of time in direct-contact with liquid nitrogen. The long-term development of infants born as a result of this technology equally remains to be evaluated.
Division of Research, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, ri-cheng.chian@mcgill.ca.
Ri-Cheng
RC
Chian
Yao
Y
Wang
Yi-Ran
YR
Li
D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D003451:Cryoprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D059247:Fertility Preservation / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D050498:Live Birth; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D058989:Vitrification
D003451:Cryoprotective Agents