Maturation arrest of oocytes at prophase I stage as infertility cause: A case report

Repeated in vitro fertilization failure due to maturation arrest of whole retrieved oocyte has been a difficult challenge and no other therapeutic approaches are currently available. A 35-year-old woman presented with repeated oocyte maturation arrest at the meiosis I stage. The patient underwent controlled ovarian stimulation and ten germinal vesicle break-downed (GVBD) oocytes were collected. Our interventions either mechanically (sham intracytoplasmic sperm injection) or chemically activated (calcium-ionophore) could not overcome the maturation arrest. All oocytes failed to mature showed negative staining for anti-tubulin antibody with well-condensed chromosomes. Our case was characterized by the occurrence of GVBD and chromosome condensation but it showed arrested nuclear maturation at the prophase I stage resulting non-extrusion of the first polar body. Maturation arrest at the prophase I stage could be one of the infertility causes. The underlying mechanisms and strategies to overcome oocyte maturation arrest should be further investigated.