Oocyte developmental competence and embryo development: impact of lifestyle and environmental risk factors

Varghese, Alex C.; Ly, Kim D.; Corbin, Cresandra; Mendiola, Jaime; Agarwal, Ashok

doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2010.11.009

« Previous Next »Reproductive BioMedicine Online
Volume 22, Issue 5 , Pages 410-420, May 2011

Oocyte developmental competence and embryo development: impact of lifestyle and environmental risk factors

Alex C. Varghese
- Fertility Clinic and IVF Department, AMRI Medical Centre, Kolkata, India
Kim D. Ly
- Center for Reproductive Medicine, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute and Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Health Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
Cresandra Corbin
- Center for Reproductive Medicine, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute and Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Health Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
Jaime Mendiola
- Public Health and Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
Ashok Agarwal
- Center for Reproductive Medicine, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute and Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Health Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
- Corresponding author.

Received 20 January 2010; received in revised form 19 October 2010; accepted 10 November 2010. published online 22 November 2010.

Declaration: The authors report no financial or commercial conflicts of interest.

Abstract

Oocyte development is the end result of a sophisticated biological process that is hormonally regulated and produced by highly specialized cellular lines that differentiate in early embryo/fetal development. Embryo development is initially regulated by maternal transcripts until replaced by embryonic genomic expression. Then, an assortment of hormones and local environmental factors in various concentrations along the reproductive tract (e.g. fallopian tube, endometrial lining) provide the protection, nutrients and means of communication for the embryo to implant and develop. Both oocytes and embryos are susceptible to environmental, occupational and lifestyle exposures that can exert direct toxic effects and disrupt hormones. While some exposures may produce reversible changes, others, especially those damaging germinal cells in utero or during prepuberty, may result in permanent sequelae that continue in future generations. This article reviews the main factors that affect female fertility and their possible influence on human reproduction. Some lifestyles, xeno-oestrogens and heavy metals are already known to compromise female reproductive function. Nonetheless, many questions remain and little is known about the effect of many other factors on female fertility.

Keywords: embryo, environmental exposures, lifestyle, oocyte, xeno-oestrogens

Alex C Varghese has been an active embryologist and researcher on IVF since 1997 and received his PhD in 2005 from University of Calcutta, India. In 2008, after his post-doctoral tenure at Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA, he became scientific director and chief embryologist at Fertility Clinic and IVF Department, AMRI Hospital. Alex founded lifeinvitro.com, a knowledge-sharing platform. His particular interests are molecular causes and prevention of male infertility, genomics and metabolomics in embryology and cryotolerence of reproductive cells. He is Secretary of Institute of Reproductive Health and Toxicology and Vice-President of Academy of Clinical Embryologists, India.