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Fertilisability and developmental ability of mouse oocytes with reduced amounts of cytoplasm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 1998

T. Wakayama  and
R. Yanagimachi
T. Wakayama
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy and Reproductive Biology, University of Hawaii School of Medicine, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan
R. Yanagimachi
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy and Reproductive Biology, University of Hawaii School of Medicine, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
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Abstract

To determine the minimal amount of cytoplasm necessary to support normal development of mouse oocytes, mature unfertilised oocytes were reduced in size into approximately 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 by removing the cytoplasm, then inseminated. More than 80% of 1/2-size oocyte were fertilised normally and almost all fertilised eggs developed to blastocysts. When transferred to foster females, 31% of the blastocysts developed into normal offspring. In contrast, 1/4- and 1/8-size oocytes, although they were penetrable by spermatozoa and extruded the second polar bodies, could not reach the 2-cell stage. In these oocytes, sperm nuclei did not develop into full-sized pronuclei. These results suggest that an oocyte can develop to full term after losing about half its cytoplasm, but not more.

Keywords

ActivationDevelopmentFertilisationHalfOocyte
Type
Research Article
Information
Zygote , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , November 1998 , pp. 341 - 346
Copyright
1998 Cambridge University Press

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