introduction: the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of different doses of retinoic acid on resumption of meiosis, in vitro maturation of oocytes and resulting embryo development in mice. materials and methods: germinal vesicle of nmri female mouse (6-8 weeks old) oocytes were collected from ovaries and cultured in maturation medium mem-α contained: 100 mliu/ml rfsh + 7.5 iu/ml hc...

background: leukemia inhibitory factor (lif) is a 45-56 kda glycoprotein that has an important role in proliferation and embryo implantation. its effect on oocyte maturation and how to exert the function remained to be elucidated. methods: immature mice superovulated with human menopausal gonadotropin and germinal vesicle (gv) oocytes were obtained from ovary 48 hours after. gv oocytes were cul...

background: oocyte cryopreservation is one of the most important topics in the field of assisted reproductive technology to preserve women fertility, but relationship between cryopreservation and apoptosis is still a matter of debate. the present study was aimed to investigate the effects of vitrification on apoptosis in mouse oocytes by cryotop method. method: a total of 200 germinal vesicle (...

introduction: in this study in vitro maturation, resumption of meiosis and development of immature mouse oocytes in the presence of cysteamine was evaluated. meterial and methods: immature oocytes recovered from nmri mouse strain (4-6 weeks) were categorized in three experimental and one control group. the control included 345 immature oocytes which were matured in mem medium contain 5% fcs. in...

Mouse oocytes were placed in Hepes-T6 containing 7.5 μg/ml cytochalasin B and 5μg/ml Hoechst prior to enucleation, and enucleation was performed on oocytes using the manipulator. The oocyte held in place by gentle suction of a holding pipette (oocyte diameter approx.70 μm). The metaphase spindle (arrow) is aspirated into an enucleation pipette (1).

background: it is important to protect oocytes and embryos from oxidative stress in the culture medium. melatonin has been shown to be a direct free radical scavenger. objective: effect of melatonin during in vitro oocyte maturation, fertilization and embryo development of mouse oocytes was evaluated. materials and methods: oocytes from supper-ovulated mouse were divided to two groups: cumulus ...

background: over the past several years, mammals have been successfully cloned by either the splitting of an early stage embryo or nuclear transfer of adult somatic cells (nt) into oocytes. although it has been 15 years since the generation of the first cloned mammals from somatic cells by nt, the success rate for producing live offspring by this technique is low regardless of the cell type and...

objective: crocin is an active ingredient of saffron (crocus sativus l.) and its antioxidant properties have been previously investigated. this carotenoid scavenges free radicals and stimulates glutathione (gsh) synthesis; consequently, it may protect cells against oxidative stress. the aim of this research is to protect oocytes from oxidative stress by the addition of a natural source antioxid...