Fertility Preservation with Immature and in Vitro Matured Oocytes

Yun-Xia Cao; Ri-Cheng Chian

doi:10.1055/s-0029-1241055

Seminars in Reproductive Medicine, Inhaltsverzeichnis

Semin Reprod Med 2009; 27(6): 456-464
DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1241055

Fertility Preservation with Immature and in Vitro Matured Oocytes

Yun-Xia Cao¹ , Ri-Cheng Chian²

¹Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Center for Reproductive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, P. R. of China
²Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The development of an effective oocyte-freezing program will have a major impact on clinical practice in reproductive medicine and will serve as a powerful tool to preserve fertility for teenage girls and young women without male partners or for those individuals who are affected by malignancies. It will also be beneficial to infertile couples who have moral or religious objections about embryo cryopreservation. In addition, a successful oocyte cryopreservation program will eliminate the need for donor and recipient menstrual cycle synchronization and will enable the establishment of oocyte banks, which would facilitate the logistics of coordinating egg donors with recipients. Recent advances in vitrification technology have markedly improved the oocyte survival rate after thawing, and the pregnancy rate is comparable with that achieved with fresh oocytes. However, most studies were performed using in vivo matured oocytes for vitrification. The objective of this article was to review whether immature and in vitro matured human oocytes can be vitrified successfully. The results indicated that although healthy live births can be achieved from the combination of in vitro maturation (IVM) oocytes and vitrification, vitrification of in vitro matured oocytes is less effective than vitrification of in vivo matured oocytes. The results suggest that oocytes should be vitrified at the mature metaphase II stage following IVM rather than at the immature germinal vesicle (GV) stage because the potential of oocyte maturation is reduced by the vitrification of immature oocytes at the GV stage.

KEYWORDS

Oocytes - vitrification - cryopreservation - cancer - female fertility

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Ri-Cheng ChianPh.D.

Royal Victoria Hospital Women's Pavilion F3-36

687 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1A1

eMail: ri-cheng.chian@muhc.mcgill.ca