Zona pellucida birefringence in in vivo and in vitro matured oocytes

Braga, Daniela Paes de Almeida Ferreira; Figueira, Rita de Cássia Sávio; Queiroz, P.; Madaschi, Camila; Iaconelli, Assumpto; Borges, Edson

doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2009.12.005

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Interestingly, the relationship between the maturational state and the zona microtexture has lately been confirmed by polarization light microscopy. Compared with metaphase II stages, human immature oocytes express a higher zona birefringence (Cheng et al 2010, Braga et al 2010, and in this study, the same was found for bovine oocytes. So together with our results, there is more and more evidence that during maturation morphological and physical zona properties change from a rather compact structure with high birefringence to a more porous one exhibiting lower birefringence.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…There is no doubt that in the bovine, in vitro culture conditions have an influence on the developmental potential of the oocyte, and the ongoing development (Lonergan et al 2003, Van Soom et al 2007). Braga et al (2010) recently observed no significant change in the percentages of high birefringence oocytes after spontaneous rescue maturation in vitro, which may indicate that completion of nuclear maturation in vitro is not synchronous with cytoplasmic maturation. Moreover, the effect of gonadotropin application on oocyte quality is subject of continuing debate, because recruitment of follicles is altered in a non-physiological way.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

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Evaluation of bovine zona pellucida characteristics in polarized light as a prognostic marker for embryonic developmental potential

Koester¹,

Mohammadi‐Sangcheshmeh²,

Montag³

et al. 2011

Reproduction

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It has previously been demonstrated that zona pellucida imaging of human oocytes using polarized light microscopy is a clinically applicable method for the noninvasive assessment of oocyte quality. This study was designed to investigate whether zona pellucida characteristics of bovine oocytes and zygotes in polarized light may similarly serve as a useful marker for developmental competence in bovine reproductive biotechnologies. Zona birefringence intensity parameters of 2862 oocytes/zygotes were objectively evaluated with an automatic analysis system and correlated with oocyte/zygote quality. In detail, immature oocytes of good quality assessed with brilliant cresyl blue staining showed significantly lower zona birefringence than poor-quality counterparts (P!0.001). After in vitro maturation and classification according to maturational status, the birefringence intensity parameters were significantly different in those oocytes that reached metaphase II compared with arrested stages (P!0.001). Following either parthenogenetic activation or IVF with subsequent in vitro culture in a well-of-the-well system until day 9, superior development as determined by cleavage, blastocyst formation, and hatching ability was associated with lower zona birefringence intensity parameters. When early zygote-stage embryos were selected and assorted in groups based on zona birefringence (high/medium/low), the group of embryos derived from high-birefringence zygotes displayed a significantly compromised developmental potential compared with low-birefringence zygotes. These results clearly show that developmentally competent bovine oocytes/zygotes exhibit lower zona birefringence intensity parameters. Therefore, birefringence imaging of zona pellucida is a suitable technique to predict bovine preimplantation embryo development.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Evaluation of bovine zona pellucida characteristics in polarized light as a prognostic marker for embryonic developmental potential

Koester¹,

Mohammadi‐Sangcheshmeh²,

Montag³

et al. 2011

Reproduction

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“…However, no birefringence change did not mean that other structure changes did not occurred in the ZP. In addiction, previous studies indicate that properties of the zona layers might reflect the history of the oocyte cytoplasmic maturation, whereas different culture conditions may affect the ZP architecture [7,14]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our data showed that the ZP-BF intensity did not alter with the attainment of NM; therefore, the correlation between NM and ZP-BF was low (Table 1). Braga et al [7] have also observed that during the in vitro spontaneous maturation of oocytes, the ZP-BF remains unaffected.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The observation of ZP birefringence (ZP-BF) intensity with a polarized microscope has been proposed to identify oocyte competence and subsequent ART outcomes. A high/positively scoring ZP-BF has been significantly associated with better embryo quality and implantation and pregnancy rates when compared with oocytes showing a low/negatively scoring ZP-BF [5-7]. According to Montag et al [5], a high/positively scoring ZP-BF probably reflects a healthy oocyte with full nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of zona pellucida birefringence intensity during in vitro maturation of oocytes from stimulated cycles

Petersen

Vagnini

Mauri

et al. 2011

Reprod Biol Endocrinol

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BackgroundThis study evaluated whether there is a relationship between the zona pellucida birefringence (ZP-BF) intensity and the nuclear (NM) and cytoplasmic (CM) in vitro maturation of human oocytes from stimulated cycles.ResultsThe ZP-BF was evaluated under an inverted microscope with a polarizing optical system and was scored as high/positive (when the ZP image presented a uniform and intense birefringence) or low/negative (when the image presented moderate and heterogeneous birefringence). CM was analyzed by evaluating the distribution of cortical granules (CGs) throughout the ooplasm by immunofluorescence staining. CM was classified as: complete, when CG was localized in the periphery; incomplete, when oocytes presented a cluster of CGs in the center; or in transition, when oocytes had both in clusters throughout cytoplasm and distributed in a layer in the cytoplasm periphery Nuclear maturation: From a total of 83 germinal vesicle (GV) stage oocytes, 58 of oocytes (69.9%) reached NM at the metaphase II stage. From these 58 oocytes matured in vitro, the high/positively scoring ZP-BF was presented in 82.7% of oocytes at the GV stage, in 75.8% of oocytes when at the metaphase I, and in 82.7% when oocytes reached MII. No relationship was observed between NM and ZP-BF positive/negative scores (P = 0.55). These variables had a low Pearson's correlation coefficient (r = 0.081). Cytoplasmic maturation: A total of 85 in vitro-matured MII oocytes were fixed for CM evaluation. Forty-nine oocytes of them (57.6%) showed the complete CM, 30 (61.2%) presented a high/positively scoring ZP-BF and 19 (38.8%) had a low/negatively scoring ZP-BF. From 36 oocytes (42.3%) with incomplete CM, 18 (50%) presented a high/positively scoring ZPBF and 18 (50%) had a low/negatively scoring ZP-BF. No relationship was observed between CM and ZP-BF positive/negative scores (P = 0.42). These variables had a low Pearson's correlation coefficient (r = 0.11).ConclusionsThe current study demonstrated an absence of relationship between ZP-BF high/positive or low/negative score and nuclear and cytoplasmic in vitro maturation of oocytes from stimulation cycles.

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Novel Imaging Techniques to Assess Gametes and Preimplantation Embryos

Swain

2016

Human Reproduction

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Zona pellucida birefringence in in vivo and in vitro matured oocytes

Cited by 21 publications

References 25 publications

Evaluation of bovine zona pellucida characteristics in polarized light as a prognostic marker for embryonic developmental potential

Evaluation of bovine zona pellucida characteristics in polarized light as a prognostic marker for embryonic developmental potential

Evaluation of zona pellucida birefringence intensity during in vitro maturation of oocytes from stimulated cycles

Novel Imaging Techniques to Assess Gametes and Preimplantation Embryos

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