AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Methods for assisted reproduction keep gaining interest in recent years due to the increasing demand. Although many efforts have been made to understand how fertility and reproduction work in the human, many mechanisms involved in these processes are still widely unknown. The lack of knowledge and continuous demand then call for a deeper investigation of in vivo reproduction so it can be mimicked in vitro for infertile couples. Many babies have already been born from in vitro reproduction systems, however the success rate in these cases are very low. In order to ameliorate the success of such interventions and to make them less invasive for the mother, a more faithful reproduction of the in vivo process is needed. But how can we reproduce a process we do not fully understand?This study has then compared in vivo and in vitro matured eggs to analyze the differences and find aspects of assisted reproduction that could be improved. First, levels or expression of specific messenger RNAs (mRNA) were analyzed in both conditions (in vivo and in vitro). This showed that while transcripts where almost unidentifiable in vivo after maturation, their levels in vitro decreased to a lesser extent. Trying to find an explanation for such discrepancies, we compared maturation timing, and conditions such as added factors and somatic cells in culture for the in vitro maturation process so it could more faithfully replicate and in vivo environment. Since no condition could achieve the degradation levels first seen in vivo, expression of degradation factors was then compared. These final results confirmed the earlier findings suggesting that the differences in transcript expression might be due to a difference in expression of degradation factors. This study then sheds a little light onto the current problem we face in in vitro reproduction systems: the low rate of success due to a lack of understanding of the in vivo process. Les méthodes de reproduction assistée ont gagne intérêt dans les dernières années due à une croissance dans les incidences d'infertilité dans la population. Bien que des efforts aient été faits pour comprendre la fertilité et le système reproducteur humain; la majorité des mécanismes jouant un rôle dans ces processus restent encore inconnus. Le manqué de connaissances et la demande constante nécessitent d'une plus profonde investigation de la reproduction in vivo à fin de pouvoir répliquer le processus in vitro pour venir en aide aux couples infertiles. Plusieurs enfants ont déjà été nés de la reproduction in vitro, par contre, la marge de succès reste basse dans tous les cas. Pour améliorer le succès de toutes ces interventions et rendre le processus moins invasif pour les mères, une approche plus fidèle au modèle in vivo doit être développée. Mais comment peut-on reproduire un processus qu'on ne comprend pas pleinement?Cette étude a donc compare les processus de maturation des ovocytes in vivo et in vitro afin d'analyser les différences et trouver des aspects de la reproduction assistée qui pourraient être…