An Atlas of the Ultrastructure of Normal, Abnormal and Failed Fertilized Human Oocytes

This ground-breaking atlas of oocyte ultrastructure forms a practical guide to assisted reproduction. Extensively illustrated with transmission electron microscopic (TEM) images, it contains chapters on oocyte maturation, fertilization, fertilization failure, pitfalls and technical problems of intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and failed fertilization in vitro to explain the principles and evaluation of TEM images. A large chapter of TEM images of the ultrastructure of human oocytes illustrates fertilization failures after ICSI and IVF and the ultrastructure of germinal vesicle oocytes and metaphase I oocytes. It also contains detailed information about abnormal metaphase II oocytes with sections on autolysis, multi-vacuolated mature oocyte, refractile body, and fragmented oocyte. The concluding chapter describes materials and methods for single-cell transmission electron microscopy of the human oocyte.