Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 14 pp 18018—18032

Figure 1. Reduced expression of Gas6 and increased meiotic errors in oocytes with maternal aging. (A, B) Typical expression patterns of the Gas6 transcripts (A) and protein (B) in GV and MII oocytes from young and aged female mice, respectively. Gas6 expression was significantly decreased in aged oocytes. The levels of the GAS6 protein are presented in a bar graph. The data are presented as the means ± SEM. Different letters indicate significant differences at p<0.05. Young oocytes were obtained from 3-week-old female mice; aged oocytes were obtained from 12-month-old female mice. (C) Maternal aging causes spindle organization defects and chromosome misalignment during oocyte maturation. Green, spindle; blue, chromosome; red, mitochondria; red box, oocyte with abnormal spindle and chromosome alignment. The scale bars represent 25 μm.