Ex ovo omnia-why don't we know more about egg quality via imaging?

Autor: Boylan CF; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.; Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA., Sambo KM; Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany., Neal-Perry G; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA., Brayboy LM; Department of Neuropediatrics Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.; Klinik für Pädiatrie m. S. Neurologie, Charité Campus Virchow Klinikum, Berlin, Germany.; Department of Reproductive Biology, Bedford Research Foundation, Bedford, MA, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Biology of reproduction [Biol Reprod] 2024 Jun 12; Vol. 110 (6), pp. 1201-1212.
DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioae080
Abstrakt: Determining egg quality is the foremost challenge in assisted reproductive technology (ART). Although extensive advances have been made in multiple areas of ART over the last 40 years, oocyte quality assessment tools have not much evolved beyond standard morphological observation. The oocyte not only delivers half of the nuclear genetic material and all of the mitochondrial DNA to an embryo but also provides complete developmental support during embryonic growth. Oocyte mitochondrial numbers far exceed those of any somatic cell, yet little work has been done to evaluate the mitochondrial bioenergetics of an oocyte. Current standard oocyte assessment in in vitro fertilization (IVF) centers include the observation of oocytes and their surrounding cell complex (cumulus cells) via stereomicroscope or inverted microscope, which is largely primitive. Additional oocyte assessments include polar body grading and polarized light meiotic spindle imaging. However, the evidence regarding the aforementioned methods of oocyte quality assessment and IVF outcomes is contradictory and non-reproducible. High-resolution microscopy techniques have also been implemented in animal and human models with promising outcomes. The current era of oocyte imaging continues to evolve with discoveries in artificial intelligence models of oocyte morphology selection albeit at a slow rate. In this review, the past, current, and future oocyte imaging techniques will be examined with the goal of drawing attention to the gap which limits our ability to assess oocytes in real time. The implications of improved oocyte imaging techniques on patients undergoing IVF will be discussed as well as the need to develop point of care oocyte assessment testing in IVF labs.
(© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for the Study of Reproduction.)
Databáze: MEDLINE