Microfilaments play critical role on mitochondrial traffic in porcine GV oocyte

Abstract

Oocyte maturation requires a variety of ATP-dependent reactions, such as germinal vesicle breakdown, spindle formation, and polar body extrusion, which is required for fertilization. Mitochondria are accordingly expected to be localized to subcellular sites of ATP utilization. Although cytoskeleton-dependent traffic for mitochondria has been studied extensively in somatic cells, the mechanism of mitochondrial dynamics in mammalian oocytes remains obscure. This study describes dynamic aspects of mitochondria in porcine oocytes at germinal vesicle stage.