title: Functional topography of the fully grown human oocyte.
abstract: In vivo maturation (IVM) of human oocytes is a technique used to increase the number of usable oocytes for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and represents a necessity for women with different ovarian pathologies. During IVM the oocytes progress from the germinal vesicle stage (GV) through the metaphase II and during this journey both nuclear and cytoplasmic rearrangements must be obtained to increase the probability to get viable and healthy zygotes/embryos after IVF. As the successful clinical outcomes of this technique are a reality, we wanted to investigate the causes behind oocytes maturation arrest. For obvious ethical reasons, we were able to analyze only few human immature oocytes discarded and donated to research by transmission electron microscopy showing that, as in the mouse, they have different chromatin and cytoplasmic organizations both essential for further embryo development.
authors.affiliation: San Matteo foundation for health, hospitalization and care, Research Center for Regenerative Medicine. m.monti@smatteo.pv.it.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Monti
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calligaro
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Behr
authors.forename: Renee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rejo Pera
authors.forename: Carlo Alberto
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Redi
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wossidlo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*