Developmental competence of in vitro -matured human oocytes obtained from pregnant and non-pregnant women

The aim of this study was to compare the rate of maturation, fertilization, and embryo development of -matured human oocytes derived from pregnant and non-pregnant women. Immature oocytes were obtained by needle aspiration from 49 pregnant women (group 1) who underwent a cesarean section at term and 77 non-pregnant women (group 2) who underwent a gynecological operation during the same period (8 months). Healthy immature oocytes (530 in group 1 and 539 in group 2) were cultured and assessed for maturation 36 hours later. Mature oocytes were inseminated by intracytoplasmic sperm injection and cultured up to 144 hours. The percentage of degenerated oocytes was significantly higher (12.1% vs. 6.3%;