Vitrification of Mouse Oocytes

Abstract

The ultra-rapid cooling vitrification method, which accelerates cooling and warming rates of the specimens by minimizing the volume of the vitrification solution and result in little loss of the cell viability during storage in liquid nitrogen, has been established. The method does not require expensive freezing machineries, and can avoid the time consuming in routine works for its simple protocol. Even matured oocytes, which have been known to their high cryo-sensitivity, can survive through this vitrification procedure. Recently some commercial vitrification containers for ultra-rapid cooling, e.g., Cryotop and Cryotop-animal, have been widely provided. Therefore, they realize general use of ultra-rapid cooling vitrification of oocytes and embryos in human IVF cycles and in animal science. The detail procedure of the ultra-rapid cooling vitrification method is introduced in this article.