BACKGROUND Oocytes are the female gametes which establish the program of life after fertilization. Interactions between oocyte and the surrounding cumulus cells at germinal vesicle (GV) stage are considered essential for proper maturation or 'programming' of oocytes, which is crucial for normal fertilization and embryonic development. However, despite its importance, little is known about the m...

During follicle development, oocytes secrete factors that influence the development of granulosa and cumulus cells (CCs). In response to oocyte and somatic cell signals, CCs produce extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules resulting in cumulus expansion, which is essential for ovulation, fertilisation, and is predictive of oocyte quality. The cumulus ECM is largely made up of hyaluronan (HA), TNF-s...

An experimental design was framed to analyse the effect of cumulus oocyte complex (COC) morphology on in vitro maturation of bovine oocytes. Slaughter house derived bovine ovaries from South Indian breeds and crossbred cattle of Kerala were subjected to three retrieval methods to yield different quality grades of oocytes. Based on the number of layers of cumulus cells and ooplasm character, the...

The formation, maintenance, and repair of biological tissues rely on the interaction of cells with other cell types and with their extracellular matrix [2, 3]. These cellular communications can be bi-directional or multi-dimensional and may occur at both macroand micro-scales. Depending on the hypothesis of interest, co-culture models are used to discern the individual and collective effects of...

The electronic structure and optical properties of Mn and B, C, N co-doped molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) monolayers have been investigated through first-principles calculations. It is shown that the MoS2 monolayer reflects magnetism with a magnetic moment of 0.87 μB when co-doped with Mn-C. However, the systems co-doped with Mn-B and Mn-N atoms exhibit semiconducting behavior and their energy ban...

1,4-Dioxane adsorbs on Pd(111) at 80 K to form an overlayer saturating at an exposure of ~4 L (1 L=1×10−6 Torr s) and desorbs with a peak centered at ~268 K in temperature-programmed desorption. Multilayer growth commences for exposures >2 L suggesting that they form before the monolayer is completed. The multilayers desorb at ~160 K. Reflection–absorption infrared spectroscopy of both normal a...

Imidazolium ion-terminated self-assembled monolayer (SAM)-modified electrodes achieve CO2 conversion while suppressing hydrogen evolution. Immobile imidazolium ion on gold (Au) electrodes reduce CO2 at low overpotential. The distance between electrode and imidazolium ion separated by alkane thiol affects CO2 reduction activity. CO2 reduction current depends on the tunnel current rate. Although ...