Abstract
Investigation of nutrition-related proteins in mouse oocytes and zygotes is crucial for the development of an effective therapy for patients with infertility. Currently, we are concerned with the role of nutrition in the process of oocyte development in order to better reveal the relationship between nutrition and infertility. We collected mouse oocytes at three different developmental stages: germinal vesicle (GV) stage, metaphase II-arrested (MII) stage and fertilized oocytes (zygotes). Semi-quantitative mass spectrometry and GeneMapper software were used to analyze nutrition-related proteins in these oocytes. Various specific proteins were abundantly expressed in the mouse oocytes. These proteins included heat shock proteins and Ybx2. Additional proteins which exist in important meta bolism pathways also demonstrated differential expression among the three stages. We identified additional nutrition elements required for oocyte development and fertilization. The present study contributed to increased understanding of nutrition in the process of oocyte development, which may enhance the efficacy of therapy for patients with infertility.