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Oocyte Maturation In Vivo and In Vitro: Principles of Regulation

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Book cover Manual on Assisted Reproduction

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Abstract

Oogenesis begins early in fetal development. Germ cells can already be detected in 24-day-old embryos. Primordial germ cells move from an extragonadal site and enter the cortex of the differentiating gonad. Ovarian development starts. Primordial germ cells are precursors of actively dividing oogonia, which begin a high frequency of mitotic activity to reach the first meiotic prophase as oocytes. Germ cells in this stage are present within the first 4 months of fetal development and are estimated to number 5-6 million. The phase of multiplication of oogonia ends in the fifth month of fetal life [1]. The maturing oocyte is a direct derivative of the primary germ cell. After having finished the mitotic phase of multiplication, oogonia - now known as oocytes - are encompassed by follicular or granulosa cells. The oocyte enters the first stage of meiotic prophase, the leptotene having passed the preleptotene. It is during preleptotene, i.e., the interphase of the last mitotic division, that final DNA replication takes place in preparation for meiosis and signals the transformation of oogonia into oocytes. The oocyte remains in prophase for a long time. In prophase, oocytes progress through four different stages. After up to 6 h, as confirmed by studies on mouse oocytes, they change to zygotene. During zygotene, homologous chromosomes pair and synapse to form what appear to be single chromosomes, but are actually bivalents composed of four chromatids. It takes up to 40 h to complete zygotene. In the following stage, the pachytene, genetic crossing over and recombination takes place.

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Authors
  1. W. Küpker
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  2. K. Diedrich
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine, University Women’s Hospital, Voss-Straße 9, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany

    Thomas Rabe  & Thomas Strowitzki  & 

  2. Department Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538, Lübeck, Germany

    Klaus Diedrich

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© 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Küpker, W., Diedrich, K. (2000). Oocyte Maturation In Vivo and In Vitro: Principles of Regulation. In: Rabe, T., Diedrich, K., Strowitzki, T. (eds) Manual on Assisted Reproduction. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58341-4_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58341-4_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-63543-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-58341-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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