Interactions between oocytes and cumulus cells during in vitro maturation of porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes in a chemically defined medium: Effect of denuded oocytes on cumulus expansion and oocyte maturation

Porcine oocyte maturation <i>in vitro</i>: role of cAMP and oocyte-secreted factors – A practical approach

“…In these studies, cumulus expansion was scored using an arbitrary scale from 0 to +4 [33,34,35]. In a recent study of ours [11], cumulus expansion was measured more objectively using an individual tracking system of COCs during IVM, the defined porcine oocyte medium (POM), and digital image analysis. Using this approach, we demonstrated that the cumulus can expand in the absence of the oocyte [11].…”

“…In a recent study of ours [11], cumulus expansion was measured more objectively using an individual tracking system of COCs during IVM, the defined porcine oocyte medium (POM), and digital image analysis. Using this approach, we demonstrated that the cumulus can expand in the absence of the oocyte [11]. However, oocytectomized complexes (OOXs) do not reach the same level of expansion as intact COCs.…”

“…, cumulus cells) possibly plays an important role during oocyte maturation by gap junctional communications and soluble factors (reviewed by Tanghe et al [10, 11]). Despite the major progress that has been made in this field of study, there are still gaps in the knowledge.…”

The expression of growth factor signaling genes in co-culture IVM

“…and cumulus in order to enhance nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation in oocytes (Appeltant et al 2015). The exogenous growth factors addition also reported in rats which affected in modulating cumulus cell expansion, stimulating proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis (Arat et al 2016).…”

A simple method for assessing hyaluronic acid production by cumulus-oocyte complexes

“…Visual evaluation of expanded COCs (Fagbohun and Downs 1990; Vanderhyden et al 1990) or their area measurement (Daen et al 1994) are still used for the evaluation of cumulus expansion (Appeltant et al 2015;Kubo et al 2015;Machado et al 2015). Nevertheless, these methods do not affect the three-dimensional structure of expanded cumuli and cannot uncover differences in HA synthesis after COC treatment.…”