BACKGROUND With improved prospects for the use of human oocyte in-vitro maturation in assisted reproductive technologies, the need to define more clearly the coordination of nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation has arisen. METHODS Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy were used to evaluate cell cycle-dependent modifications in chromatin and microtubules in human germinal vesicle oocytes (n...

To study the intranuclear localization of the Ul-specific snRNP C protein and its assembly into U1 snRNPs, we injected transcripts encoding a myctagged C protein into amphibian oocytes. The distribution of protein translated from the injected RNA was essentially the same in continuous and pulse-label experiments. In both cases the C protein localized within the germinal vesicle in those structu...

In oocytes of the newt Pleurodeles waltl, the maternal nuclear protein PwA33 occurs on the lampbrush chromosomes and in some nucleoplasmic particles of the germinal vesicle. PwA33 is a modular protein and we used site-directed mutagenesis to alter the sequences encoding two metal-binding regions, the C3HC4 (or RING finger) and B-box motifs. Several mutant clones were generated and their synthet...

Intact germinal vesicle (GV) arrest and release are essential for maintaining the fertility of mammals inducing human. Intact germinal vesicle release, maturation of oocytes is maintained by very complex procedures along with folliculogenesis and is a critical step for embryonic development. Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) has been suggested a key factor for meiotic arrest but so far its ...

This review compiles present knowledge of the structure and molecular composition of the enigmatic cytoplasmic organelles called accessory nuclei. Most typically, they are found in the perinuclear cytoplasm in oocytes of insects and several other invertebrates. Accessory nuclei originate by budding of the oocyte nucleus (germinal vesicle) and are surrounded by an envelope identical to the nucle...