BACKGROUND Cryopreservation has limited successes and in-vitro maturation is used to improve its results. Hydrostatic pressure (HP) plays an important role in follicular development. OBJECTIVE This study was designed to examine the effects of HP on in-vitro maturation of oocytes and cell death in cumulus cells derived from vitrified-warmed mouse ovaries. MATERIALS AND METHODS Preovulatory f...

As a gamete, oocyte needs to maintain its genomic integrity and passes this haploid genome to the next generation. However, fully-grown mouse oocyte cannot respond to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) effectively and it is also unable to repair them before the meiosis resumption. To compensate for this disadvantage and control the DNA repair events, oocyte needs the cooperation with its surroundi...

15 Fatty acid oxidation (FAO) is essential for oocyte maturation in mice. The objective of this 16 experiment was to determine the effect of etomoxir (a FAO inhibitor; 100 μM), carnitine (1 17 mM), and palmitic acid (1 or 100 μM) during maturation on metabolism and gene expression of 18 the oocyte and cumulus cells, and subsequent embryo development in the mouse. Carnitine 19 significantly incr...

Background: The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is one of the major signaling pathways that transmit intracellular signals initiated by extracellular stimuli to the nucleus. The stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK)/c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase is a subfamily of MAP kinases implicated in cytokine and stress responses. Objective: In this study, we have examined total and phosphoryl...

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of progesterone in the meiotic resumption of porcine oocytes. Progesterone production and progesterone receptor (PR) immunoreactivity in cumulus cells were not detected in porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COC) when observations were made either just after collection from the follicles or after 28 h cultivation without LH and FSH. However, the a...

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), epidermal growth factor (EGF) and estradiol 17-β (E2) in maturation medium on nuclear maturation and cumulus expansion of cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) obtained from bovine ovaries. COCs were classified as good and poor quality grades based on cumulus investment. COCs were then su...

Cell-secreted vesicles, such as exosomes, have recently been recognized as mediators of cell communication. A recent study in cattle showed the involvement of exosome-like vesicles in the control of cumulus expansion, a prerequisite process for normal ovulation; however, whether this is the case in other mammalian species is not known. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the presence of exos...

The aim of this study was to investigate cumulus expansion, nuclear maturation and expression of connexin 43, cyclooxygenase-2 and FSH receptor transcripts in equine cumuli oophori during in vivo and in vitro maturation in the presence of equine FSH (eFSH) and precursors for hyaluronic acid synthesis. Equine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COC) were cultured in a control defined medium supplemented w...

Cumulus cell (CC) apoptosis is inversely correlated with embryonic development in vitro. Therefore, inhibition of CC apoptosis is important for proper embryonic development and quality. Retinoic acids (all-transRA and 9-cisRA) are natural components of retinoids, and 9-cisRA is the physiologically active metabolite of retinoic acid in vitro. During in vitro maturation, 9-cisRA enhances oocyte c...

Abstract Background The developmental competence of oocyte derived from in vitro maturation (IVM) is significantly lower than those matured vivo. Rapamycin an immunosuppressive substance and widely used to prolong the survival preserve cells culture. objective this research was explore whether rapamycin supplementation during IVM enhances meiotic maturation, quality, subsequent embryonic develo...