Mercedes G. Bermúdez

Maternal age-related differential global expression profiles observed in human oocytes

The age-related decline in female fertility has been attributed to a variety of causes including progressive oocyte depletion, meiotic irregularities and mitochondrial dysfunction. However, additional factors could potentially be involved. To explore this possibility, comprehensive analysis of gene expression in human oocytes, discarded following IVF procedures and segregated by age, was undertaken using microarray methods. These findings indicate that the expression of oocyte genes, in a variety of major functional categories including cell cycle regulation, cytoskeletal structure, energy pathways, transcription control, and stress responses, are influenced by maternal age. These results are corroborated by a complementary extensive study using mouse oocytes.

Expression profiles of individual human oocytes using microarray technology.

Microarray technology is a relatively new technique that provides the investigator with the ability to monitor and quantify the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously. This technological breakthrough has the potential to provide detailed insight into cellular processes involved in the regulation of gene expression. In this study, microarray methods were used to examine the expression of linearly amplified RNA from individual and pooled (n = 5) human oocytes. The amplification strategy consistently produced a complex representative cDNA population. A catalogue of 1361 transcripts expressed in human oocytes was identified, of which 406 have been independently confirmed using other methods.