The present study has evaluated the association of growth differentiation factor9 (GDF9) and bone morphogenetic protein15 (BMP15) mRNA expression in cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) of buffalo ovary during in vitro maturation (IVM). GDF9 and BMP15 are expressed specifically in mammalian oocytes and also participate in cumulus-oocyte crosstalk. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qR...

BACKGROUND Linoleic acid (LA) is a polyunsaturated fatty acid present in high concentrations in follicular fluid, when added to maturation culture media, it affects oocyte competence. OBJECTIVE In the present study, we investigated effect of linoleic acid supplementation on in vitro maturation, embryo development and apoptotic related gene expression in ovine. MATERIALS AND METHODS The expe...

Oceanic tropical clouds are observed to occur at various length scales over the equatorial trough zone (an area around the intertropical convergence zone or ITCZ). As one proceeds from the subtropics towards the equator, the cloud types range from small stratocumulus, small cumulus (including trade cumulus), cumulus, cumulonimbus (isolated) and large mesoscale convective systems (MCSs)with a co...

Transport and chemical transformations influenced by shallow cumulus over land J. Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, S.-W. Kim, M. C. Barth, and E. G. Patton Meteorology and Air Quality Section, Wageningen University, The Netherlands Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA Received: 5 August 2005 – Accepted: 24 August 2005 – Published: 16 September 200...

Polyspermy or the penetration of more than one sperm cell remains a problem during porcine in vitro fertilization (IVF). After in vitro culture of porcine zygotes, only a low percentage of blastocysts develop and their quality is inferior to that of in vivo derived blastocysts. It is unknown whether the cytoplasmic maturation of the oocyte is sufficiently sustained in current in vitro maturatio...

Assisted reproductive technologies in all mammals are critically dependent on the quality of the oocytes used to produce embryos. For reasons not fully clear, oocytes matured in vitro tend to be much less competent to become fertilized, advance to the blastocyst stage, and give rise to live young than their in vivo-produced counterparts, particularly if they are derived from immature females. H...

OBJECTIVE To test whether angiotensin II (AngII) could modulate apoptosis of human granulosa-lutein (GL) cells from gonadotropin-stimulated follicles. DESIGN In vitro assays on mural and cumulus granulosa cells. SETTING University laboratory and private IVF practice. PATIENT(S) One hundred six consecutive women undergoing 113 IVF cycles. INTERVENTION(S) Purified human GL mural or cumulu...

This paper prototypes a method for calibrating a cumulus parameterization against a cumulus ensemble model. The key to this technique is to run the cumulus model and the parameterization in identical test cells which provide forcing typical of that seen over tropical oceans. In particular, the mean temperature pro le is relaxed to a reference pro le which is assumed to be characteristic of the ...