Abstract
Objective
The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of vitrification on mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) in human metaphase II (MII) oocytes, and the changes of ΔΨm on thawed MII oocytes.
Methods
MII oocytes were obtained from clinical IVF cycles when the oocytes were failed to fertilization within 24 h after insemination. All oocytes were randomly divided into 4 groups: non-frozen (fresh group), cultured for 0 h (0 h group), 2 h (2 h group) and 4 h (4 h group) after vitrification/thawing. All oocytes were stained with the ΔΨm-specific probe JC-1 and detected by laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) for mitochondrial analysis.
Results
The ΔΨm of oocytes was significantly decreased in 0 h and 2 h groups when compared with fresh group (0.93, 1.09 vs 1.34, P < 0.05), but similar between 4 h group and fresh group (1.30 vs 1.34, P > 0.05).
Conclusion
In the vitrification/thawing process, the ΔΨm of MII oocytes could have temporally dynamic changes within 2 h after thawing but would be fully recovered after 4 h culture.
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Acknowledgements
We greatly appreciate and thank Dr De-Yi Liu from the Melbourne IVF and the University of Melbourne in Australia, for his comments and revision of the final draft of manuscript.
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Capsule The article used human unfertilized metaphase II oocytes as material to detect the recovery ability of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) after vitrification/thawing. The results showed that the ΔΨm of MII oocytes had temporally dynamic changes within 2h after thawing but could be fully recovered after 4 h culture.
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Chen, C., Han, S., Liu, W. et al. Effect of vitrification on mitochondrial membrane potential in human metaphase II oocytes. J Assist Reprod Genet 29, 1045–1050 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-012-9848-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-012-9848-1