Increasing infertility is one of the most serious health problems today. Over past few years, we have had opportunity to follow progress technologies focused on production embryos in vitro (i.e., fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection, genetic engineering, or somatic cell nuclear transfer. Oocyte maturation important processes vitro. Despite recent this field, developmental competen...

Ovary is an important organ that houses the oocytes (reproductive cell). Oocyte growth depends on the function of follicular cells such as the granulosa and theca cells. Two-cell two gonadotropin systems are associated with oocyte growth and follicular cell functions. In addition to these systems, it is also known that several growth factors regulate oocyte growth and follicular cell functions....

Ovarian folliculogenesis is regulated by both endocrine and intraovarian mechanisms that coordinate the processes of oocyte growth and somatic cell proliferation and differentiation. Within the follicle, paracrine interactions between the oocyte and surrounding granulosa cells are critical for normal cell development and function. This review focuses on the role of paracrine interactions during...

The ovary of the neonatal rat has been found to offer very favourable material for an examination of the structural relationship between an oocyte and its surrounding follicle cells, since a large proportion of the follicles are at a similar stage of development and can be examined within a single section under the electron microscope. This has made it possible to examine the changes in cell su...

The Drosophila ovarian tumor gene (otu) encodes cytoplasmic proteins that are required in germ-line cells for cyst formation, nurse cell chromosome structure and egg maturation. We have analyzed a gene, fs(2)cup, that participates in many of the same processes and interacts with otu genetically. Both nurse cell and oocyte chromosomes require cup to attain a normal morphology. In addition, the g...

introduction: the value of embryonic stem-like cells in cloning is obvious. production of cloned animals can be achieved by introduction of these cells into a tetraploid embryo. tetraploid embryo is used as a feeder for development of embryonic stem-like cells and can be produced in vitro by electro-fusion of 2-cell embryos. the aim of this study was to ass,essthe effect of voltage alteration a...

Compared to stem cells derived from human term umbilical cord, stem cells derived from human first-trimester umbilical cord (hFTUC) exhibit a significantly greater proliferative potential, and more efficiency in terms of their in vitro differentiation. In the present study, we investigated whether hFTUC-derived stem cells are able to differentiate into germ cells. The hFTUC-derived stem cells w...

The PAR-1 kinase is required for the posterior localisation of the germline determinants in C. elegans and Drosophila, and localises to the posterior of the zygote and the oocyte in each case. We show that Drosophila PAR-1 is also required much earlier in oogenesis for the selection of one cell in a germline cyst to become the oocyte. Although the initial steps in oocyte determination are delay...