Gene expression profiling of human oocytes following in vivo or in vitro maturation

Global gene expression profiling using microarrays and bioinformatics analysis has provided a molecular basis for differences in the developmental competence of oocytes matured in vitro compared with in vivo. The over-abundance of transcripts identified in immature germinal vesicle stage oocytes recovered from gonadotrophin stimulated cycles and matured in vitro is probably due to dysregulation in either gene transcription or post-transcriptional modification of genes. Either mechanism would result in an incorrect temporal utilization of genes which may culminate in developmental incompetence of any embryos derived from these oocytes.