Oocyte maturation is a complex process involving nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation. The nuclear maturation is a chromosomal segregation and the cytoplasmic maturation involves the reorganization of the cytoplasmic organelles, mRNA transcription and storage of proteins to be used during fertilization and early embryo development. The mechanism of oocyte maturation in vivo and in vitro still are...

This study was undertaken to determine whether fully grown oocytes isolated from the early antral follicles (2-8 mm size) of frozen-thawed buffalo ovaries are viable and can be rescued to undergo maturation, fertilization, and embryo development in vitro. Ovaries were cryopreserved just after being collected during slaughter from the local abattoir using in situ oocyte (ISO) cryopreservation. I...

The Arabidopsis LEAFY COTYLEDON1 (LEC1) gene is required for the specification of cotyledon identity and the completion of embryo maturation. We isolated the LEC1 gene and showed that it functions at an early developmental stage to maintain embryonic cell fate. The LEC1 gene encodes a transcription factor homolog, the CCAAT box-binding factor HAP3 subunit. LEC1 RNA accumulates only during seed ...

This prospective study was undertaken to reassess the prognostic value of leptin during critical stages of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) and address its role in the functional staging of assisted reproductive technologies at the level of embryo quality. Serum and follicular fluid samples of 100 selected women undergoing the long IVF-ET protocol were collected for leptin and em...

developing a culture system for preantral follicles has important biotechnological implications due to the potential to produce a large number of oocytes for embryo production and transfer. to accomplish this goal, the present study was aimed to culture preantral follicles in the presence of different media, sera and fsh concentrations. six-week-old preantral follicles (95 ± 5 µm) were cultured...

BACKGROUND Ammonium is produced in culture medium due to amino acids degradation and has adverse effect on in vitro culture of embryo. In the current study, the purpose was to evaluate the effects of ammuniom chloride (AC) on in vitro oocyte maturation rate and early embryo development in the sheep and its effect on the expression of Bcl-2. METHODS In vitro maturation (IVM) was performed in t...

Maternal factors are required for oocyte maturation and embryo development. To better understand the role of DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) in oocyte maturation and embryo development, small interfering RNA (siRNA) was conducted in porcine oocytes. In this study, our results showed that Dnmt1 localized in oocyte cytoplasm and its expression displayed no obvious change during oocyte maturation....

In the present study, the effects of retinoid metabolite administration during in vitro maturation (IVM) on oocyte maturation, parameters of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and embryo development were examined. Varying concentrations of 9-cis retinoic acid (RA; 0, 5, 50 and 500 nm; Experiment 1) and all-trans retinol (ROH; 0, 125, 1250 and 12 500 nm; Experiment 2) were included in the maturation m...

Routinely, a bolus of 5.000-10.000 IU human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is used for the final follicular maturation and ovulation as a standard method. HCG has the same effect of luteinizing hormone (LH) with long half-life. It has the long lutheotrophic effect which increases the risk of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS). Recently, gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH-a) trigg...

background: fat-rich diet may alter oocyte development and maturation and embryonic development by inducing oxidative stress (os) in follicular environment. objective: to investigate the relationship between fat intake and oxidative stress with oocyte competence and embryo quality. materials and methods: in observational study follicular fluid was collected from 236 women undergoing assisted re...