• About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Login
    • ObGFirst
  • COVID-19
  • Alerts
  • OB
  • 2T US Atlas
  • The Genome
  • GYN
    • GYN
    • Sexual Health
  • Primary Care
  • Your Practice
  • GrandRounds
  • My Bookshelf
  • Now@ObG
  • Media
About Us Contact Us Login ObGFirst
  • COVID-19
  • Alerts
  • OB
  • 2T US Atlas
  • The Genome
  • GYN
    • GYN
    • Sexual Health
  • Primary Care
  • Your Practice
  • GrandRounds
  • My Bookshelf
  • Now@ObG
  • Media
Grand Rounds

Can We Finally Culture Follicles to Reach Complete Oocyte Development?

image_pdfFavoriteLoadingFavorite

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

  • Complete oocyte growth from primordial follicles has been achieved in mice
  • In humans, previous to this report, growth to fully grown ooctyes has been accomplished but only from the secondary/multi-laminar stage
  • McLaughlin et al. (Molecular Human Reproduction, 2018) developed a culture system that allows complete growth from the earliest stages of human follicle development through to Metaphase II

METHODS:

  • Ovarian cortical biopsies were obtained from women undergoing elective caesarean section
  • The maturation of the oocyte occurred in the following steps
    • For 8 days, fragments of these cortical were cultured in 300 μl of McCoy’s 5a medium with bicarbonate supplemented with HEPES, glutamine, HAS, penicillin G, streptomycin, transferrin, selenium, human insulin, recombinant human FSH and ascorbic acid
      • Fragments were cultured at 37°C in humidified air with 5% CO2 with half the media being removed and replaced every second day
      • Follicles with a mean diameter > 40 μm were removed from the fragments so that remaining growing follicles were only primordial, transitional or primary
    • Secondary/multi-laminar intact follicles (100-150 µm in diameter) were selected for further culture in serum free medium, including 100 ng/ml of human recombinant Activin A
    • After 8 days, cumulus oocyte complexes (complete cumulus and adherent granulosa cells) were selected and cultured in Activin A and FSH on membranes
    • Complexes containing >100 µm diameter were selected for further in vitro maturation (IVM) in SAGE medium (75 mIU/ml of FSH and 75 mIU/ml of LH in humidified air and 5% CO2 at 37°C) and then fixed for analysis

RESULTS:

  • 87 secondary follicles of diameter 120 ± 6 μm (mean ± SEM) could be dissected for further culture following initial growth of growing follicles
  • After a further 8 days, 54 of the 87 follicles had reached the antral stage of development
  • At the end of Step 3, 32 complexes contained oocytes >100 μm diameter were suitable for IVM
  • Nine of these complexes contained polar bodies within 24 h
  • However, all polar bodies were abnormally large
  • Image analysis showed the presence of a Metaphase II spindle confirming that these oocytes had resumed meiosis but their developmental potential is unknown

CONCLUSION:

  • This study demonstrated that a human oocyte can be developed from the earliest follicular stages
  • This study does not provide evidence as to the fertilization potential of oocytes developed within a complete in vitro growth system
  • Technique must be further optimized although this proof of concept study is promising
  • Main clinical application is fertility preservation, especially ovarian tissue cryopreservation for cancer patients
    • May be especially helpful in prepubertal girls
    • While autologous transplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue has been reported, there is a risk that tumor cells that may have contaminated the ovarian tissue will also be re-introduced
    • Complete oocyte maturation would avoid concern regarding tumor cell contamination and delay in starting chemotherapy

Learn More – Primary Sources:

Metaphase II oocytes from human unilaminar follicles grown in a multi-step culture system 

image_pdfFavoriteLoadingFavorite

< Previous
All Grand Rounds Posts
Next >

Related ObG Topics:

Infertility Treatment and Childhood Development
Frozen or Fresh Embryos for IVF Transfer?

Sections

  • COVID-19
  • Alerts
  • OB
  • GYN
    • GYN
    • Sexual Health
  • 2T US Atlas
  • The Genome
  • Primary Care
  • Your Practice
  • Grand Rounds
  • My Bookshelf
  • Now@ObG
  • Media

Are you an
ObG Insider?

Get specially curated clinical summaries delivered to your inbox every week for free

  • Site Map/
  • © ObG Project/
  • Terms and Conditions/
  • Privacy/
  • Contact Us/
© ObG Project
SSL Certificate


  • Already an ObGFirst Member?
    Welcome back

    Log In

    Want to sign up?
    Get guideline notifications
    CME Included

    Sign Up

Get Guideline Alerts Direct to Your Phone
Try ObGFirst Free!

Sign In

Lost your password?

Sign Up for ObGFirst and Stay Ahead

  • - Professional guideline notifications
  • - Daily summary of a clinically relevant
    research paper
  • - Includes 1 hour of CME every month

ObGFirst Free Trial

Already a Member of ObGFirst®?

Please log in to ObGFirst to access the 2T US Atlas

Password Trouble?

Not an ObGFirst® Member Yet?

  • - Access 2T US Atlas
  • - Guideline notifications
  • - Daily research paper summaries
  • - And lots more!
ObGFirst Free Trial

Media - Internet

Computer System Requirements

OBG Project CME requires a modern web browser (Internet Explorer 10+, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge). Certain educational activities may require additional software to view multimedia, presentation, or printable versions of their content. These activities will be marked as such and will provide links to the required software. That software may be: Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft PowerPoint, Windows Media Player, or Real Networks Real One Player.

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA. The planners of this activity do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications.

The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of the planners. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information
presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patient’s conditions and possible contraindications and/or dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.

Jointly provided by

NOT ENOUGH CME HOURS

It appears you don't have enough CME Hours to take this Post-Test. Feel free to buy additional CME hours or upgrade your current CME subscription plan

Subscribe

JOIN OBGFIRST AND GET CME/CE CREDITS

One of the benefits of an ObGFirst subscription is the ability to earn CME/CE credits from the ObG entries you read. Tap the button to learn more about ObGFirst

Learn More
Leaving ObG Website

You are now leaving the ObG website and on your way to PRIORITY at UCSF, an independent website. Therefore, we are not responsible for the content or availability of this site