Effects of aromatase inhibition on in vitro follicle and oocyte development analyzed by early preantral mouse follicle culture

In vivo studies on folliculogenesis have documented a relation among intrafollicular steroid content, follicle growth, and oocyte development. This study examined how profound changes in androgen/estrogen ratio would affect mouse in vitro follicular development. Arimidex(R), a potent follicular aromatase inhibitor was used for this purpose. Early preantral follicles were cultured for 12 days up to the preovulatory stage. Oocyte's meiotic maturation, spindle and chromosome configurations, in vitro fertilization and preimplantation embryo development were evaluated. Compared to controls, Arimidex reduced E2 concentration in follicle culture medium by a factor 1000, and an expected simultaneous accumulation of testosterone was measured in the conditioned medium. Arimidex treatment provoked a dose-dependent earlier differentiation of the granulosa cells as judged by an earlier antrallike cavity formation and slightly elevated basal progesterone secretion, Follicle survival exceeded 98% in all groups and all follicles responded normally to HCG/EGF addition on day 12 by cumulus mucification. By the HCG ovulatory challenge, progesterone output was reduced in Arimidex supplemented groups suggesting preovulatory luteinization. These results indicate that in vitro mouse follicles can develop normally under very low levels of estrogens and that a local androgen increase by a factor 3 is not atretogenic. Oocyte growth did not differ among culture conditions. Arimidex treatment induced a dose dependent enhancement of GVBD and polar body formation rate in response to HCG at the end of culture, Spindle and chromosome analyses demonstrated that in all groups, 90% of the oocytes which extruded a polar body had also reached the MII stage. While most of the cultured MII oocytes had a normal spindle and well aligned chromosomes, significantly less oocytes were fertilized in the groups cultured in the presence of Arimidex, Once fertilized, however, there was found to be no difference for preimplantation embryo development between controls and Arimidex treatment. These data suggest that in mice a pronounced estrogenic environment is not essential for in vitro folliculogenesis. Drastic changes in the intrafollicular steroid concentrations do not disrupt meiotic maturation nor compromise early preimplantation development, but adversely affect fertilization of in vitro grown oocytes, (C) 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.