Live Imaging of Intracellular Dynamics During Meiotic Maturation in Mouse Oocytes

Fluorescence live imaging is a powerful approach to study intracellular dynamics during cellular events such as cell division. By applying automated confocal live imaging to mouse oocytes, in which meiotic maturation can be induced in vitro after the introduction of fluorescent proteins through microinjection, the meiotic dynamics of intracellular structures, such as chromosomes, can be monitored at high resolution. A combination of this method with approaches for the perturbation of specific proteins opens up opportunities for understanding the molecular and intracellular basis of mammalian meiosis.