OBJECTIVE To better characterize cumulus-oocyte interactions during oocyte maturation and fertilization in the cat model. DESIGN Experimental in vitro study. SETTING Smithsonian Institution. ANIMAL(S) Domestic shorthair cats. INTERVENTION(S) Groups of denuded oocytes (DOs) and cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were subjected to in vitro maturation (with or without FSH and LH, with or with...

Oocyte maturation and embryo development are controlled by intra-ovarian factors such as steroid hormones. Progesterone (P4) exists in the follicular fluid that contributes to normal mammalian ovarian function and has several critical functions during embryo development and implantation, including endometrial receptivity, embryonic survival during gestation and transformation of the endometrial...

Background: The meiotic spindle plays an important role in the oocyte during chromosome alignment and separation at meiosis. The zona pellucid (ZP) is a dynamic matrix composed of filaments with the properties that might reflect the history of oocyte cytoplasmic maturation. Since, spindle and ZP in living oocytes are highly birefringent, their structures can be viewed noninvasively by using a P...

Background: In vitro maturation (IVM) is a promising treatment option for certain infertile women. Nowadays, with the aid of the Polscope, it has become possible to evaluate zona pellucida (ZP) and spindle as parameters of oocyte quality. The goal was to investigate the relationship between the presence of the meiotic spindle and ZP birefringence with morphology of the in vivo and in vitro matu...

BACKGROUND It is important to protect oocytes and embryos from oxidative stress in the culture medium. Melatonin has been shown to be a direct free radical scavenger. OBJECTIVE Effect of melatonin during in vitro oocyte maturation, fertilization and embryo development of mouse oocytes was evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS Oocytes from supper-ovulated mouse were divided to two groups: cumulus...

In vitro culture of human ovarian tissue the following cryopreservation is proposed for follicular development. There are no techniques that guarantee successful maturation of the follicles within the excised tissue. The viability of cultured human ovarian tissue improved by adding some growth factors to the culture media. The efficiency of vitrification as the cryopreservation method for human...

The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of activin-A during the in vitro oocyte maturation (IVM) and in vitro embryo culture (IVC) on nuclear maturation, blastocyst yield and blastocyst quality of prepubertal goat oocytes. In Experiment 1, three groups of oocytes were used during the IVM of prepubertal goat oocytes to determine the optimal concentration of recombinant human activi...

BACKGROUND The oocyte-to-embryo transition (OET) requires a co-ordinated transcriptional programme acting through evolutionarily conserved events, and transcription factors (TFs) are known to control these processes. Here, we focus on nuclear factor (NF)-κB, a TF involved in several cellular processes, studying NFκB-inhibitor (NFKBIA) mRNA and its protein product, IκBα, during OET. NFKBIA and I...

introduction: superovulation produces complications in some patients, so invitro maturation of oocytes is used to decrease or eliminate these complications and improve ivf. moreover, ivm is used for different aspects of reproductive researches. slaughterhouse ovaries are the main source of oocytes for ivm and ivf studies. different media has been introduced and experimented for in vitro maturat...