Record Details

Optimization of Cryoprotectant Loading into Murine and Human Oocytes

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Title Optimization of Cryoprotectant Loading into Murine and Human Oocytes
Names Karlsson, Jens O. M. (creator)
Szurek, Edyta A. (creator)
Higgins, Adam Z. (creator)
Lee, Sang R. (creator)
Eroglu, Ali (creator)
Date Issued 2014-02 (iso8601)
Note This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by Elsevier and can be found at: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/cryobiology/.
Abstract Loading of cryoprotectants into oocytes is an important step of the cryopreservation process, in
which the cells are exposed to potentially damaging osmotic stresses and chemical toxicity.
Thus, we investigated the use of physics-based mathematical optimization to guide design of
cryoprotectant loading methods for mouse and human oocytes. We first examined loading of
1.5 M dimethylsulfoxide (Me₂SO) into mouse oocytes at 23°C. Conventional one-step loading
resulted in rates of fertilization (34%) and embryonic development (60%) that were significantly
lower than those of untreated controls (95% and 94%, respectively). In contrast, the
mathematically optimized two-step method yielded much higher rates of fertilization (85%) and
development (87%). To examine the causes for oocyte damage, we performed experiments to
separate the effects of cell shrinkage and Me₂SO exposure time, revealing that neither
shrinkage nor Me₂SO exposure single-handedly impairs the fertilization and development rates.
Thus, damage during one-step Me₂SO addition appears to result from interactions between the
effects of Me₂SO toxicity and osmotic stress. We also investigated Me₂SO loading into mouse
oocytes at 30°C. At this temperature, fertilization rates were again lower after one-step loading
(8%) in comparison to mathematically optimized two-step loading (86%) and untreated controls
(96%). Furthermore, our computer algorithm generated an effective strategy for reducing
Me₂SO exposure time, using hypotonic diluents for cryoprotectant solutions. With this
technique, 1.5 M Me₂SO was successfully loaded in only 2.5 min, with 92% fertilizability. Based
on these promising results, we propose new methods to load cryoprotectants into human
oocytes, designed using our mathematical optimization approach.
Genre Article
Topic Cryopreservation
Identifier Karlsson, J. O. M., Szurek, E. A., Higgins, A. Z., Lee, S. R., & Eroglu, A. (2014). Optimization of cryoprotectant loading into murine and human oocytes. Cryobiology, 68(1), 18-28. doi:10.1016/j.cryobiol.2013.11.002

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