Abstract
The understanding of the reproductive events and the molecular mechanisms regulating fertility and infertility in humans relies heavily on the analysis of the corresponding phenotypes in mouse models. While molecular genetic approaches provide significant insight into the molecular regulation of these processes, the lack of live imaging methods that allow for detailed visualization of the mouse reproductive organs limits our investigations of dynamic events taking place during the ovulation, the fertilization and the pre-implantation stages of embryonic development. Here we introduce an in vivo three-dimensional imaging approach for visualizing the mouse oviduct and reproductive events with micro-scale spatial resolution using optical coherence tomography (OCT). This method relies on the natural tissue optical contrast and does not require the application of any contrast agents. For the first time, we present live high-resolution images of the internal structural features of the oviduct, as well as other reproductive organs and the oocytes surrounded by cumulus cells. These results provide the basis for a wide range of live dynamic studies focused on understanding fertility and infertility.
Highlights
Introduction and backgroundThe mammalian oviduct is the conduit for oocytes ovulated by the ovary and the site of fertilization
We present a novel imaging approach that allows for in vivo three-dimensional highresolution visualization of the mouse reproductive organs and preimplantation events using optical coherence tomography (OCT)
The spatial resolution achievable with this approach is sufficient for visualizing detailed structural features of the ovary, oviduct, and oocytes with associated cumulus cells in a live mouse
Summary
Introduction and backgroundThe mammalian oviduct is the conduit for oocytes ovulated by the ovary and the site of fertilization. The fertilized oocyte transits through the oviduct, undergoing cleavage divisions for pre-implantation embryonic development and entrance into the uterus for implantation [1, 2]. In both humans and mice, it takes nearly four days for the oocytes to travel through the oviduct to the uterus [3, 4]. With a gestation of 20 days, this time frame covers a significant fraction of embryonic development Defects associated with these processes can cause infertility [5,6,7], which motivated a wide range of studies investigating the causes and treatments of infertility from a molecular genetic perspective using the mouse as a model system [7,8,9,10,11]. The complete understanding of these processes from a dynamic perspective in their natural environment is missing, largely due to the lack of appropriate live high-resolution imaging methods in both humans and animal models [12,13,14]
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