The physiological trigger for meiotic resumption in the human oocyte is the surge of luteinizing hormone, but it can also occur spontaneously if oocytes are released from antral follicles and cultured in vitro. The development of novel techniques for the culture of murine oocytes has raised the possibility of growing human oocytes to maturity in vitro. Such a system could open the door to a num...

Artificial oocyte activation to overcome failed fertilization after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in human oocytes typically employs Ca2+ ionophores to produce a single cytosolic Ca2+ increase. In contrast, recombinant phospholipase Czeta (PLCz) causes Ca2+ oscillations indistinguishable from thoseoccurring during fertilization, but remains untested for its efficacy in a scenario of I...

Artificial oocyte activation to overcome failed fertilization after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in human oocytes typically employs Ca(2+) ionophores to produce a single cytosolic Ca(2+) increase. In contrast, recombinant phospholipase Czeta (PLCζ) causes Ca(2+) oscillations indistinguishable from those occurring during fertilization, but remains untested for its efficacy in a scenar...

Maturation arrest of human oocytes may occur at various stages of the cell cycle. A total failure of human oocytes to complete meiosis is rarely observed during assisted conception cycles. We describe here a case series of infertile couples for whom all oocytes repeatedly failed to mature during IVF/ICSI. Eight couples, all presenting with unexplained infertility, underwent controlled ovarian s...

OBJECTIVE To compare the oocyte-activating ability of whole human round spermatids and their isolated nuclei. DESIGN Prospective study using sibling oocytes from patients undergoing spermatid conception and intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment cycles. SETTING Private assisted reproduction laboratories and a university department. PATIENT(S) Couples with male infertility. INTERVENT...

Previous studies have demonstrated that the use of recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone (rhFSH) for ovarian stimulation may be associated with a better outcome than human menopausal gonadotrophin (HMG), probably due to the absence of LH, higher FSH bioactivity and better quality of oocytes and embryos when rhFSH is used. Very few studies have examined the effects of different gonadotr...

BACKGROUND In general, 15% of oocytes collected in ART cycles are immature. These oocytes may be cryopreserved further for use in in-vitro maturation (IVM) program. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine maturation capacity, morphometric parameters and morphology of human immature oocytes in both fresh IVM (fIVM) and vitrified-IVM (vIVM) oocytes. MATERIALS AND METHODS 93 women who...