TY - JOUR AU - Monti, Manuela AU - Calligaro, Alberto AU - Behr, Barry AU - Rejo Pera, Renee AU - Redi, Carlo Alberto AU - Wossidlo, Mark PY - 2017/02/06 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Functional topography of the fully grown human oocyte JF - European Journal of Histochemistry JA - Eur J Histochem VL - 61 IS - 1 SE - Original Papers DO - 10.4081/ejh.2017.2769 UR - https://www.ejh.it/ejh/article/view/2769 SP - AB - <p><em>In vivo</em> maturation (IVM) of human oocytes is a technique used to increase the number of usable oocytes for <em>in vitro </em>fertilization (IVF) and represents a necessity for women with different ovarian pathologies. During IVM the oocytes progress from the germinal vesicle stage (GV) through the metaphase II and during this journey both nuclear and cytoplasmic rearrangements must be obtained to increase the probability to get viable and healthy zygotes/embryos after IVF. As the successful clinical outcomes of this technique are a reality, we wanted to investigate the causes behind oocytes maturation arrest. For obvious ethical reasons, we were able to analyze only few human immature oocytes discarded and donated to research by transmission electron microscopy showing that, as in the mouse, they have different chromatin and cytoplasmic organizations both essential for further embryo development.</p> ER -