The present study aimed to investigate progesterone receptor (PR) gene expression in cumulus cells and their roles during meiotic resumption of porcine oocytes. The amount of PR-A or PR-B mRNA was analyzed by RT-PCR using primer sets for the PR-B region or the PR-A/B common region. The level of PR-B mRNA in cumulus cells was up-regulated by FSH and LH during the first 8 h of cultivation but the...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of the use of cumulus-aided embryo transfer on pregnancy rates. To study the proximity of expanded cumulus cells to the developing embryo. To document by light microscopy the anchoring of day 3 to day 4 embryos by the expanded cumulus cells. To demonstrate by transmission electron microscopy the cellular activity of the expanded cumulus cells. To evaluate the ex...

Buffalo ovaries were collected from a slaughter house and cumulus cells oocytes complexes (COCs) were recovered for preparation of 2-D, 4-D, 6-D and 8-D monolayer. Cumulus cells were stripped off by repeated pipetting into TCM-199 medium supplemented with 10% FCS. Approximately 2x106/ml cumulus cell were transferred in 100 μl drops of culture medium and incubated in humidifi ed atmosphere of 5%...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to investigate whether the steroid hormone(s) secreted from cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) is a prerequisite for bovine oocyte maturation and cumulus expansion using aminoglutethimide (AGT), a P450 cholesterol side-chain cleavage inhibitor. METHODS In experiment 1, COCs were cultured in maturation medium with various concentrations of AGT for 22 h t...

It has been known that EGF-like factor secreted from LH-stimulated granuloma cells acts on granulosa cells and cumulus cells to induce ovulation process. Granulosa cells are changed the morphology with differentiating cell functions to produce progesterone. Cumulus cells are detached to make a space between the cells to accumulate hyaluronan rich matrix. LH also changes extracellular matrix (EC...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been revealed to be a signal molecule with second messenger action in the somatic cells of many tissues, including the reproductive tract. The aim of this study was to address how exogenous H2S acts on the meiotic maturation of porcine oocytes, including key maturation factors such as MPF and MAPK, and cumulus expansion intensity of cumulus-oocyte complexes. We observ...

The morphology of canine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) before puberty is still unknown. Therefore, the aim of our study was to elucidate the morphological characteristics of pre-pubertal oocytes and cumulus cells by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The pre-pubertal oocyte was characterized by accumulation of lipid yolk droplets in the cytopl...

BACKGROUND To investigate whether cumulus cell removal after a 3 h co-incubation of gametes can affect the outcomes of in vitro fertilization. METHODS A prospective randomized sibling-oocyte study was performed in which sibling oocytes obtained from each patient were randomly assigned to either a 3 h or 20 h group (cumulus cells removed at 3 h or 20 h after insemination, respectively). Same o...

Cumulus clouds involve processes on a vast range of scales—including cloud droplets, turbulent mixing, and updrafts and downdrafts—and it is often difficult to determine how processes on different scales interact with each other. In this article, several multiscale asymptotic models are derived for cumulus cloud dynamics in order to (i) provide a systematic scale analysis on each scale and (ii)...

(1) Background: The binding sites of melatonin, as a multifunctional molecule, have been identified in human, porcine, and bovine samples. However, the binding sites and mechanisms of melatonin have not been reported in sheep; (2) Methods: Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were cultured in TCM-199 supplemented with melatonin at concentrations of 0, 10-3, 10-5, 10-7, 10-9, and 10-11 M. Melatonin r...