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Human Reproduction Update Advance Access originally published online on May 8, 2009
Human Reproduction Update 2009 15(5):573-585; doi:10.1093/humupd/dmp014
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Oocyte aging: cellular and molecular changes, developmental potential and reversal possibility

Yi-Liang Miao1,2, Kazuhiro Kikuchi3, Qing-Yuan Sun1,4 and Heide Schatten2,4

1 State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China 2 Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA 3 Division of Animal Sciences, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan

4 Correspondence address. Tel: +86-10-6480-7050; Fax: +86-10-6480-7050; E-mail: sunqy{at}ioz.ac.cn (Q.Y.S.); Tel: +1-573-882-2396, E-mail: SchattenH{at}missouri.edu (H.S.)

BACKGROUND: In humans, normal healthy children are regularly produced through fertilization of fresh oocytes with fresh spermatozoa. However, asynchrony between oocytes and spermatozoa, especially when aged oocytes are fertilized by fresh or senescent spermatozoa, will not only affect the rate of fertilization and pre- and post-implantation embryo development but also the life of the offspring. As many failures in assisted reproduction technologies (ART) are related to oocyte aging, new methods are needed to control oocyte aging to benefit modern ART.

METHODS: We review changes associated with decreased fertilization rates and developmental potential of aged oocytes, and we present methods and approaches that prevent or delay oocyte aging.

RESULTS: Cellular and molecular abnormalities occur during oocyte aging, but prevention, delay or reversal is possible to various extents. Modifying existing culture conditions, or treatment of oocytes with agents such as caffeine, DL-dithiothreitol, nitric oxide or trichostatin A may correct molecular pathways that are affected by aging, and thus benefit and improve success rates in modern ART.

CONCLUSIONS: Aging of oocytes is characterized by a sequence of molecular processes that deteriorate during aging and negatively impact fertilization and development. However, oocyte aging can be delayed or reversed by various treatments to increase success rates and produce increased numbers of healthy embryos, preventing failures or abnormalities that are frequently associated with ART using aged oocytes.

Key words: oocyte aging / ART / delay and prevention of oocyte aging

Received on April 25, 2008; revised March 17, 2009; accepted on April 6, 2009


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