Nucleolus precursor bodies in human zygote pronuclei—still in the haze?
The pronuclei in human one-cell stage embryos (zygotes) contain several nucleoli called nucleolus precursor bodies (NPBs). Based on their number and distribution, it is possible to predict the developmental potential of the zygote. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the speed of NPBs movement in pronuclei may also indicate how the embryo will develop, as well as its chromosomal constitution (euploidy versus aneuploidy). These observations, however, do not elucidate the mechanisms behind these processes, and a deeper understanding will certainly be important for the more efficient production of healthy human embryos.
Authors
- Pasqualino Loi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4631-7663)
- J. Fulka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7414-5024)
- Josef Fulka
Institutions
- University of Teramo (IT)
- Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK)
- Animal Science Research Institute (CN)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Medicine (CZ)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Reproduction
- Published
- 2026-01-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/reprod/xaaf001
- Primary Topic
- Reproductive Biology and Fertility
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00