LASER MICROTOMOGRAPHY FOR IVF OOCYTE OF HUMAN
For <i>in vitro</i> fertilization technology, the quality of oocytes has a direct impact on the egg fertilization and developmental competence of early embryo. The morphological criteria are used for the estimation of oocyte quality before its fertilization <i>in vitro</i>. To date, only one method is known to determine the maturity of oocyte. This is the routine observation with light microscope. The aim of this article was to adapt the non-invasive quantitative laser scanning microtomography (QLSM) for the investigation of morphological features of a human oocyte <i>in vitro</i>. This approach was used to accumulate the Z-stack gallery of optical sections of IVF oocyte. The layer-by-layer acquisition allows the fine cytoplasmic structure imaging. Applying the QLSM Z-stack of optical sections, the cellular volume was calculated with quantitative 3D reconstruction of a human oocyte. The volume value and intracellular structure were used as novel criteria to assess the oocyte state after the stress evoked by cryopreservation procedure.