The oocyte is a highly differentiated cell. It makes organelles specialized to its unique functions and progresses through a series of developmental stages to acquire a fertilization competent phenotype. This review will integrate the biology of the oocyte with what is known about oocyte-specific gene regulation and transcription factors involved in oocyte development. We propose that oogenesis...

Polarity of the Drosophila oocyte is essential for correct development of the egg and future embryo. The Par proteins Par-6, aPKC and Bazooka are needed to maintain oocyte polarity and localize to specific domains early in oocyte development. To date, no upstream regulator or mechanism for localization of the Par proteins in the oocyte has been identified. We have analyzed the role of the small...

Before fertilization, spermatozoa must undergo a process called capacitation in order to fulfill their fertilization potential. This includes series of structural, biochemical, and functional changes before subsequent acrosome reaction fusion with the oocyte. However, low temperatures during cryopreservation may induce premature activation capacitation-like changes, also known as cryocapacitati...

abstract: introduction & objective: the infertility treatment by using in vitro matured oocyte has many potential applications. it minimizes the risk of ovarian hyper stimulation and is an alternative treatment for women with polycystic ovarian syndrome who may have problems regarding stimulation for ivf. this method may prove important for subjects in need of fertility preservation and also pr...

Background: This study was conducted in order to determine whether BCB staining performed on immature bovine oocytes to assess G6pdhlevel has an impact on ivf/ivp technology in bovine embryos. Both spermatozoa and oocytes metabolize glucose through the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), and NADPH appears necessary for gamete fusion. Activity of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), the key e...

The adult ovarian surface epithelium has already been proposed as a source of stem cells and germinal cells in the literature, therefore it has been termed the "germinal epithelium". At present more studies have confirmed the presence of stem cells expressing markers of pluripotency in adult mammalian ovaries, including humans. The aim of this study was to isolate a population of stem cells, ba...

The Drosophila oocyte, although often thought of as an undifferentiated cell, is in fact highly polarized, and the subcellular organization of the oocyte is critical for subsequent development of the embryo. Recent results show that cell-cell signaling between the germline and the somatic components of the egg chamber establish the dorsal-ventral and anterior-posterior axes of the egg and conse...

The in vitro culture of immature ovarian follicles is used to examine the factors that regulate follicle development and may ultimately provide options for reproductive infertility. The objective of this study was to develop a three-dimensional in vitro culture system for the growth and development of individual granulosa cell-oocyte complexes. An alginate hydrogel was used to encapsulate immat...

I N the adult hen each oocyte is surrounded by a capsule of follicle cells and all the raw materials that enter the oocyte must pass through this capsule. It is not surprising, therefore, that the morphological relationships between the follicle and the oocyte are of a highly specialized nature. Several workers have studied them, mainly by light microscopy, but their findings have not been unan...