RESEARCH ARTICLE Nicotinamide Impairs Entry into and Exit from Meiosis I in Mouse Oocytes

Following exit from meiosis I, mammalian oocytes immediately enter meiosis II without an intervening interphase, accompanied by rapid reassembly of a bipolar spindle that main-tains condensed chromosomes in a metaphase configuration (metaphase II arrest). Here we study the effect of nicotinamide (NAM), a non-competitive pan-sirtuin inhibitor, during meiotic maturation in mouse oocytes. Sirtuins are a family of seven NAD+-dependent dea-cetylases (Sirt1-7), which are involved in multiple cellular processes and are emerging as important regulators in oocytes and embryos. We found that NAM significantly delayed entry into meiosis I associated with delayed accumulation of the Cdk1 co-activator, cyclin B1. GVBD was also inhibited by the Sirt2-specific inhibitor, AGK2, and in a very similar pat-tern to NAM, supporting the notion that as in somatic cells, NAM inhibits sirtuins in oocytes. NAM did not affect subsequent spindle assembly, chromosome alignment or the timing of first polar body extrusion (PBE). Unexpectedly, however, in the majority of oocytes with a polar body, chromatin was decondensed and a nuclear structure was present. An identical phenotype was observed when flavopiridol was used to induce Cdk1 inactivation durin