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Molecular Human Reproduction Vol. 2, NUMBER 12 pp. 959-965, 1996
© European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology 1996

research-article

Biochemical study of individual zonae from human oocytes that failed to undergo fertilization in intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Vera Gross1,2, Anil Dubey1, Alan S. Penzias1, Lawrence Layman1, Richard Reindollar1 and Tom Ducibella1,2,3

1Division of Reproductive Endocrinology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Boston, MA 02111, USA 2Anatomy and Cellular Biology, Tufts University School of Medicine and New England Medical Center Hospital Boston, MA 02111, USA

To whom correspondence should be addressed at: 3To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Anatomy/Cellular Biology, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02111, USA

Successful intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is dependent upon the competence of the oocyte to respond to the injection of a spermatozoon in the presence of calcium. This study determined if oocytes that failed to become fertilized (absence of any pronuclei) failed to undergo cytoplasmic activation, as ascertained by an electrophoretic shift in the zona pellucida (zona) protein, huZP2. Of 48 zonae individually analysed, 58% did not have a detectable huZP2 shift. Three patterns were observed. In seven patients, none of the unfertilized oocyte huZP2 shifted (16 out of 48); in two, all zonae exhibited a huZP2 shift (five out of 48); in eight, there was a mixture of shifted and unshifted (27 out of 48) in each case. There was no clear relationship between the presence of the huZP2 shift and maternal age, pregnancy outcome, male-factor infertility, or fertilization rate. However, in six couples diagnosed as having no detectable male-factor infertility, 73% (11 out of 15) of the zonae had unshifted huZP2, suggesting that an oocyte defect is involved in some cases of failed fertilization after ICSI. One likely cause for the absence of the huZP2 shift is a failure of cytoplasmic activation. Since oocytes were injected at metaphase II, we hypothesize that some oocytes that failed to fertilize have completed nuclear (meiotic) without cytoplasmic maturation.

calcium/human/oocytes/spermatozoa/zona pellucida


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