Maternal-Effect Gene Expression in Cultured Preantral Follicles Derived from Vitrified-Warmed Mouse Ovary

Objective: this study was conducted to assess survival of follicles, their oocyte maturationand fertilization potential as well as expression of early embryo developmental genesin in vitro cultured pre-antral follicles derived from vitrified-warmed mouse ovary.materials and methods: in this experimental study, ovaries of 12-day old naval medicalresearch institute (nmri) female mice were placed into non-vitrified and vitrifiedwarmedgroups. isolated preantral follicles from experimental groups were cultured invitro for 12 days. on the 12th day of culture, oocyte maturation was induced and thenmatured oocytes were in vitro fertilized. the rates of oocyte maturation and two-cellstage embryo formation were assessed. relative expression of mater and zar1 wasevaluated on days 1, 6, 10 and 12 of culture. data analysis was performed by t testand two-way anova (p < 0.05).results: our data showed no significant difference between the control and vitrificationgroups in the rate of follicular survival, oocyte maturation and two-cell stage embryo formation.the level of gene expression was higher on the 6th and 10th days of culture formater and zar1 in vitrified-warmed group compared with non-vitrified group, however,there was no significant difference between the two groups.conclusion: it seems that the applied vitrification method did not reveal any negativeeffect on maturation and developmental competence of oocytes surrounded in preantralfollicles and therefore could preserve follicular reserves efficiently.