Ghafari , Fataneh, Gutierrez , Carlos G. and Hartshorne, Geraldine M. (2007) Apoptosis in mouse fetal and neonatal oocytes during meiotic prophase one. BMC Development Biology, Vol.7 . p. 87. doi:10.1186/1471-213X-7-87

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Abstract

Background
The vast majority of oocytes formed in the fetal ovary do not survive beyond birth.
Possible reasons for their loss include the elimination of non-viable genetic
constitutions arising through meiosis, however, the precise relationship between
meiotic stages and prenatal apoptosis of oocytes remains elusive. We studied oocytes
in mouse fetal and neonatal ovaries, 14.5–21 days post coitum, to examine the
relationship between oocyte development and programmed cell death during meiotic
prophase I.
Results
Microspreads of fetal and neonatal ovarian cells underwent immunocytochemistry for
meiosis- and apoptosis-related markers. COR-1 (meiosis-specific) highlighted axial
elements of the synaptonemal complex and allowed definitive identification of the
stages of meiotic prophase I. Labelling for cleaved poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase
(PARP-1), an inactivated DNA repair protein, indicated apoptosis. The same oocytes
were then labelled for DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) using TUNEL. 1960
oocytes produced analysable results. .
Oocytes at all stages of meiotic prophase I stained for cleaved PARP-1 and/or TUNEL, or neither. Oocytes with fragmented (19.8%) or compressed (21.2%) axial
elements showed slight but significant differences in staining for cleaved PARP-1 and
TUNEL to those with intact elements. However, fragmentation of axial elements
alone was not a good indicator of cell demise. Cleaved PARP-1 and TUNEL staining
were not necessarily coincident, showing that TUNEL is not a reliable marker of apoptosis in oocytes.

Conclusions
Our data indicate that apoptosis can occur throughout meiotic prophase I in mouse
fetal and early postnatal oocytes, with greatest incidence at the diplotene stage.
Careful selection of appropriate markers for oocyte apoptosis is essential.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology Q Science > QH Natural history > QH426 Genetics
Divisions:	Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Oocytes, Mammalian, Apoptosis
Journal or Publication Title:	BMC Development Biology
Publisher:	Biomed Central Publisher
ISSN:	1471-213x
Official Date:	24 July 2007
Dates:	Date Event 24 July 2007 Published
Volume:	Vol.7
Page Range:	p. 87
DOI:	10.1186/1471-213X-7-87
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Description:	Version accepted by publisher (post-print, after peer review, before copy-editing).
Related URLs:	Publisher

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

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