In Vitro Development of Marmoset Monkey Oocytes by Pre-antral Follicle Culture |
| |
| Authors: | PL Nayudu J Wu HW Michelmann |
| |
| Institution: | Department of Reproductive Biology, German Primate Centre, Goettingen, Germany;;Division of Urology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA;;Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany |
| |
| Abstract: | A technique for in vitro maturation of oocytes from small ovarian follicles of marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) has been developed. We employed a two‐step culture system for primary follicles (45–85 μm) and a one‐step culture technique for secondary follicles (>85 μm). The two‐step technique started with the culture of stromal tissue fragments for 2 days. Thereafter, mechanically isolated follicles were transferred to a culture system where they attached to the culture surface and grew for up to a further 12 days. Significant growth of the small follicles and their oocytes was only achieved with gonadotrophins in the medium. Oocytes with a mean diameter of 39 μm from follicles <85 μm reached a mean diameter of 90 μm by the end of the two‐step culture. After in vitro maturation, 19% of oocytes from these follicles had progressed to the germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD). Follicles between 85 and 170 μm in diameter were isolated from the stroma and placed directly in the culture. Oocytes from these follicles had a mean diameter of 64 μm. The maximum size the oocytes reached in culture was related to the age of the females (pre‐pubertal females: 102 ± 1.3 μm; adults: 96 ± 1.4 μm). Twenty‐seven per cent of oocytes from pre‐pubertal ovaries achieved GVBD and nearly two‐thirds of these progressed to polar body stage. From adult ovaries, only 12% progressed to GVBD and one‐third of these to polar body stage. It is possible to develop mature oocytes in vitro from marmoset secondary pre‐antral follicles (>85 μm). From primary follicles, although near full size oocytes were developed, maturation capacity was incomplete. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
