Imaging living, human MII oocytes with the polscope reveals a high proportion of abnormal meiotic spindles.

Abstract

Objective: Abnormal meiotic spindles are occasionally present in human oocytes and their rate increases significantly with maternal age (Battaglia et al., Human Reprod 11:2217–22). As spindles in living human oocytes can be imaged with a non-invasive, digital and orientation-independent Polscope (Wang et al., Fertil Steril 2001;75:348–53), such a technique may be useful to predict oocyte’s quality based on spindle morphology. In the present study we examined the morphology of spindles in living human oocytes imaged with Polscope and compared the results among the women of various ages.