Objective: To evaluate how well polar body location predicts spindle localization and to examine spindle morphology.
Design: Randomized, controlled animal study.
Setting: University-affiliated research laboratory.
Animal(s): Mature, female golden hamsters.
Intervention(s): After superovulation with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin and hCG, metaphase II oocytes were obtained and imaged under digital polarization microscopy.
Main outcome measure(s): Identify the meiotic spindle in living, unfixed hamster oocytes and determine spindle location relative to the polar body.
Result(s): Spindles were imaged in 30 oocytes and only in 5 of them could the polar body predict the spindle localization. In the remaining oocytes, the spindles presented a random distribution within the cytoplasm.
Conclusion(s): These data show that the polar body location is not an accurate predictor for meiotic spindle location in mammalian oocytes.