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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on July 29, 2005
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/dei236
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved.
Received April 14, 2005
Revised June 28, 2005
Accepted July 4, 2005

Article

The effect of chilling on membrane lipid phase transition in human oocytes and zygotes

Yehudith Ghetler 1 *, Saar Yavin 2 *, Ruth Shalgi 3, and Amir Arav 2*

1 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978; IVF Unit and Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Meir Hospital, Sapir Medical Centre, Kfar Saba 44281
2 Institute of Animal Science, Volcani Centre, POB 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
3 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Amir Arav, E-mail: arav{at}agri.huji.ac.il


  Abstract

BACKGROUND: Chilling injury occurs when the cell membrane undergoes a transition from the liquid state to the gel state. Human oocytes and single-cell zygotes are of similar shape and size but the post-thawing survival rate of oocytes is poorer. We set out to investigate the possible difference in membrane lipid phase transition (LPT) temperature between the two cell types. METHODS: The LPT temperature was measured with a Fourier Transform Infra-red analyser, which detects the change in the vibration frequency of the CH2 bond stretches of the membrane lipid molecules during temperature change. The LPT temperatures of unfertilized human oocytes, in vitro-matured oocytes, and immature germinal vesicle (GV) stage oocytes were compared with that of abnormally fertilized human zygotes. RESULTS: The LPT temperatures of zygotes and of mature and immature GV oocytes differ significantly from each other (10.0 ± 1.2, 16.9 ± 0.9 and 24.4 ± 1.6°C respectively; P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Zygotes show a higher resistance to chilling injury compared to oocytes at different developmental stages; this might explain the relatively poor survival rates of cryopreserved human oocytes and indicates the necessity to adjust the cryopreservation protocols in order to minimize cryoinjury.

Keywords: chilling injury/cryopreservation/human oocyte/human zygote/lipid phase transition.
*These authors contributed equally to this work
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