Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has been continuing for one and a half year and caused a profound effect on human health. Although advanced researches and literatures are gathered, the influences of SARS-CoV-2 on the reproduction systems are largely unknown, especially on the female reproductive functions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of N501Y mutant spike protein of SARS-Cov-2 on oocyte maturation. We demonstrated that the N501Y mutant of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein impaired the mouse oocyte maturation accompanied by abnormal spindle assembly. Furthermore, the mean spindle length and the plate width were significantly increased in the N501Y-treated group compared to the control group. These results indicated the potential impairment of maturation of the oocytes caused by the infection of SARS-CoV-2, albeit current results were derived from mouse oocytes. The present study provided a theoretical basis for the attention of female reproductive health during the COVID-19 pandemic and shed light on the potential risk of SARS-CoV-2 in the successful rate of assisted reproduction.
Keywords: N501Y variant; Oocyte maturation; SARS-CoV-2; Spike protein.
【저자키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, spike protein., N501Y variant, Oocyte maturation, 【초록키워드】 spike, COVID-19 pandemic, Infection, Protein, Health, N501Y, SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, female, mutant, Oocyte, control group, maturation, potential risk, functions, impairment, mutant spike protein, oocytes, significantly increased, caused, indicated, provided, demonstrated, reproductive, the mean, influence, accompanied, spindle assembly, 【제목키워드】 spike, N501Y, mouse, assembly, Spindle,