Cytoskeletal abnormalities in relation with meiotic competence and ageing in porcine and bovine oocytes during in vitro maturation

We investigated the frequencies of cytoskeletal anomalies in metaphase-II (M-II) and incompetent [arrested at an immature metaphase (IM) stage] porcine and bovine oocytes during in vitro maturation (IVM) in relation with ageing by immunostaining and confocal microscopy. In porcine oocytes, meiotic arrest at the IM stage was associated with abnormalities of cortical actin but not with abnormal spindles. Prolongation of IVM culture to 52 h did not affect microfilament and spindle abnormalities, but reduced the microfilament-rich area overlaying the spindle. Meiotic arrest of bovine oocytes at the IM stage was associated with degenerations of microfilaments, and the frequencies of abnormal spindles were also higher than those of M-II oocytes. Ageing of bovine oocytes (IVM for 30 h) did not affect cortical microfilaments but increased the frequency of spindle alterations in both M-II and IM bovine oocytes. These results suggest that, in both species, altered ability of oocytes to polymerize F-actin might be a possible reason for the failure of polar body extrusion during IVM. Also, there seem to be differences between the two species in the sensitivity of oocytes to suffer ageing-related spindle damages.