BACKGROUND Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) has been used as a replacement for the mid-cycle luteinizing hormone (LH) surge for several years. The recent arrival of recombinant DNA technology has made recombinant HCG (rHCG) accessible. OBJECTIVE To assess efficacy of rHCG compared to urinary HCG (uHCG) for triggering of ovulation and induction of final oocyte maturation in assisted reproduc...

The endocrine control of oocyte maturation in fish and amphibians has proved to be a valuable model for investigating the rapid and non-genomic steroid actions at the cell surface. Considerable progress has made over the last decade in elucidating signaling pathways in steroid-induced oocyte maturation. In addition to steroids, various growth factors have also been reported to be involved in th...

Background In vitro maturation (IVM) of human oocytes has acquired increasing attention in infertility treatment with great promise. This technique is an alternative conventional in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET), and can be reduced the side effects of gonadotropin stimulation such as ovarian hyperstimulation (OHSS). Oocyte maturation is a complex process including cytoplasmic and...

The onset of development is marked by two major, posttranscriptionally controlled, events: oocyte maturation (release of the prophase I primary arrest) and egg activation (release from the secondary meiotic arrest). Using quantitative mass spectrometry, we previously described proteome remodeling during Drosophila egg activation. Here, we describe our quantitative mass spectrometry-based analys...

BACKGROUND Leptin, as a 16 kDa adipokine, is a pleiotropic cytokine-like hormone that primarily secreted from adipose tissue. It also involves in the regulation of energy homeostasis, neuroendocrine function, immunity, lipid and glucose homeostasis, fatty acid oxidation, angiogenesis, puberty and reproduction. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of in vitro addition of leptin t...

Mitofusin-2 (Mfn2) is essential for embryonic development, anti-apoptotic events, protection against free radical-induced lesions, and mitochondrial fusion in many cells. However, little is known about its mechanism and function during oocyte maturation. In this study, we found that Mfn2 was expressed in the cytoplasm during different stages of mouse oocyte maturation. Mfn2 was mainly associate...

BACKGROUND Oocyte maturation and competence to development depends on its close relationship with cumulus cells (CCs). However, the maturation conditions of human cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) might affect gene expression in both oocyte and CCs. We thus compared the transcriptome profiles of CCs isolated from in vivo and in vitro matured COCs at different nuclear maturation stages. METHODS ...

Intracellular Ca(2+) oscillations at fertilization are responsible for triggering egg activation. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the age of the oocyte donor and in-vitro maturation on the generation of Ca(2+) transients at fertilization. The results show that <10% of in-vivo and in-vitro matured oocytes from 19-day old mice develop to the blastocyst stage in vitro. In contra...