Detection of the effect of microvibrational stimulation on human discarded immature oocytes by single-cell transcriptome sequencing technology

Objective This study aimed to investigate the changes in oocytes at the transcriptome level after applying continuous microvibrational mechanical stimulation to human immature oocytes during in vitro maturation. Methods The discarded germinal-vesicle stage (GV) oocytes with no fertilization value after oocytes retrieval in assisted reproduction cycles were collected. Part of them was stimulated with vibration ( n = 6) at 10 Hz for 24 h after obtaining informed consent; the other was cultured in static condition ( n = 6). Single-cell transcriptome sequencing was used to detect the differences in oocyte transcriptome compared with the static culture group. Results The applied 10-Hz continuous microvibrational stimulation altered the expression of 352 genes compared with the static culture. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis suggested that the altered genes were mainly enriched with 31 biological processes. The mechanical stimulation upregulated 155 of these genes and downregulated 197 genes. Among them, the genes related to mechanical signaling, such as protein localization to intercellular adhesion ( DSP and DLG-5 ) and cytoskeleton ( DSP , FGD6 , DNAJC7 , KRT16 , KLHL1 , HSPB1 , MAP2K6 ), were detected. DLG-5 , which was related to protein localization to intercellular adhesion, was selected for immunofluorescence experiments based on the transcriptome sequencing results. The protein expression of DLG-5 in the microvibration-stimulated oocytes was higher than that in the static culture oocytes. Conclusions Mechanical stimulation affects the transcriptome during oocyte maturation, causing the express changes in intercellular adhesion and cytoskeleton-related genes. We speculate that the mechanical signal may be transmitted to the cell through DLG-5 protein and cytoskeleton-related protein to regulate cellular activities.