The presence of sERCs is associated with lower chances of successful pregnancy, even in sERC-negative oocytes from the same cohort that are transferred along with the sERC-positive oocytes. High estradiol levels could be one of the causes of sERC formation.

During maturation of hamster oocytes, the distribution of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (InsP3Rs) was found to change dramatically, as observed using confocal microscopy with DiI and electron microscopy for the ER and immunohistochemistry for InsP3Rs. In immature oocytes at the germinal vesicle (GV) stage, ER and InsP3Rs were located predominantly in several large masses near the surface and also in the perinuclear region near the surface. In contrast, fine ER networks and low-density InsP3Rs were present in the inner cytoplasm. The ER appeared to be formed as vesicles from annulate lamellae (AL) in the subcortical area. Rises in Ca2+ concentration occurred in the cytoplasm and the GV when immature oocytes were inseminated, but clear Ca2+ waves did not occur. Ca2+ rises began preferentially from the perinuclear region in response to low doses of serotonin or to uniform stimulation of InsP3Rs with photocleavage of caged InsP3. Serum also induced inhomogeneous Ca2+ release, shown by nonpropagating Ca2+ rises at multiple surface sites. Between the GV stage and prometaphase I the number and size of the surface ER masses increased, and the AL disappeared. This quantitative ER maturation was followed by a second step, spatial maturation. After prometaphase I, surface ER masses gradually dispersed to a number of much smaller ER clusters near the surface and, together with the perinuclear mass, were incorporated into thicker ER networks, resulting in a reticular pattern of the ER with small patches of InsP3Rs throughout the mature egg. The ER shifted to the peripheral surface with apposition to cortical granules. These developmental changes in ER Ca2+ stores may account, at least partly, for the acquisition of the ability of an egg to undergo normal fertilization.