Factors involved in an increase of the miscarriage rate with maternal age: Attempt to improve artificially oocyte quality in human

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24592455
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Obstetrics and gynecology
• Research Institution: Hirosaki University
• Principal Investigator: WATANABE Seiji 弘前大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (10241449)
• Research Collaborator: TANAKA Atsushi セントマザー産婦人科医院, 医学博士 ; MORI Marina セントマザー産婦人科医院, 胚培養師
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 卵子の老化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It is well known that an increase of the miscarriage rate and cytogenetically abnormal infants is related to maternal age. This phenomenon is called "oocyte aging". Immature human oocytes, which are obtained in the treatment of infertile female patients, are useful as a model of the oocytes obtained from aged females. We attempted to reveal mechanism of oocyte aging using the model oocytes. As a result, it becomes clear that oocyte development is improved when the oocytes are treated with a kind of chemical. The fact was also found that the improvement of oocyte quality was caused by an increase of cell cycle dependent proteins, which control chromosome distribution during cell division. Furthermore, cytogenetic analysis showed that expression of many genes altered in the model oocytes after the chemical treatment. As a next step, we are going to examine relationships between the genes and oocyte aging.

Free Research Field

精子、卵子および受精卵の発生遺伝学